Missouri Classical Music News

The Philadelphia Orchestra will become the first major U.S. orchestra to open its own online music store for consumers who want to download performances.

While other orchestras make their performances available online, they have done so through third-party distributors. The Philadelphia Orchestra will be the first in the U.S. to sell the downloads directly through its Web site, officials said.

``It's one more way we can address the changing media landscape and get the orchestra sound out there,'' spokeswoman Katherine Blodgett said Thursday.

Prices for MP3-format recordings range from about $5 for major works to $10 for full concerts. A CD-quality format called FLAC will cost a bit more.

They offer 256kbps MP3s or FLAC downloads -- 'without shackles,' as they put it. There are downsides -- for example, you can't download just one track from an album, you must purchase the whole album. But there are also upsides -- like being able to get copies of recent live performances that otherwise wouldn't be released.