Thank you for drawing attention to that, Lillisputian.

Also available is 'Bing Sings The Great American Songbook' This album contained some duplication with items in the Mosaic set, but it is possible to download the few unique individual tracks from the original, with some cost saving.

In fact there is a great deal now available both from iTunes and Amazon as downloads.

I can't give a link to the appropriate section in US iTunes as my system reverts to the UK branch by default each time I access. HELP! somebody, please.

Last edited by Richard Baker (27/3/2011 11:58 am)

I have now been able to get into the system far enough to provide a link to the Great American Songbook
http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/bing-sings-the-great-american/id406386965

The Christmas Sessions
http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/the-crosby-christmas-sessions/id404840241

Seasons
http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/seasons/id407161436

The Great Country Hits
http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/sings-the-great-country-hits/id323638230

The Sinatra Songbook
http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/bing-sings-the-sinatra-songbook/id416842473

Songs I Wish I Had Sung
http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/songs-i-wish-i-had-sung/id396865228

A Christmas Sing With Bing Around The World
http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/a-christmas-sing-with-bing/id398353832

Hey Jude
http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/hey-jude/id297578727

Never Be Afraid/The Emperor's New Clothes
http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/bing-crosby-sings-and-narrates/id397318802

Sing Along With Bing (AKA Thoroughly Modern Bing)
http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/sing-a-long-with-bing/id383010798

- Just a few I noticed either because they were recent issues or because they have otherwise been unavailable for some time.

Malcolm Macfarlane wrote:

Beware! "Hey Jude" and "Songs I Wish I Had Sung" both seem to be running slow. What is it with these downloads? Do you agree Richard? I'm beginning to worry that it's my computer.

I'll have a listen on a sample track or two. There have been several instances where I've had my suspicions, without being totally certain, but what is a reliable comparator?

I had thought that a good CD player should be 'right', but how far can one rely on anything? Rarely does my CD player readout of track timing agree with the printed sleeve figures. Then have the originals always been transferred at the correct speeds? (bearing in mind that many are copied from original commercial 78s or LPs rather then original source material). 

My LP player has an illuminated stroboscope (with a speed adjustment) but a query has been raised on that because it was suggested there is a possibility the strobe might have been set up for a mains frequency of 50 cycles rather than 60 cycles per second - in which case I might have been listening to LPs at the wrong speed for years!).  Just call me bewildered. 

Then I haven't a clue about how accurate computers are. Certainly it is the case that most use quite cheap CD/DVD player mechanisms compared to the dedicated music player units. The soundcard and associated hardware and software should output at the correct speed but possibly there is a variant there?

My very first player had the answer - if it sounded slow you wound the hand crank a few more turns to give more oomph to the spring. One wind was not quite sufficient to keep the the speed up for a full side!

Thanks for that. You have reassured me about "Hey Jude". That's a relief becuase I was beginning to have doubts.

With "When My Baby Smiles at Me" you say "My copy, from my own ancient LP, runs at 3.00 minutes (actually a fraction of a second over), whilst the downloaded version runs at 3.06. In honesty I cannot tell the difference in this slightly less than 6 second difference. " So your version is faster but the computer screen indicates the opposite.

My version from the Japanese CD runs at 3:11 whilst the one offered for download gives a time of 3:22. It sounds noticeably slower. I am more confused.

I've now looked at the downloads again.

I have tested a sample (half of all) and have also compared the stated running times against what I believe to be the 'normal' running times for all the other tracks.

I am positive that both albums 'Hey Jude' and 'Songs I Wish I Had Sung' run anything between 6 and 9% slow. It's possible that 'rounding' and differences in gaps between tracks would account for the apparent inconsistency between these extremes.

The slow speed includes 'When My Baby Smiles at Me' that I previously measured as being faster!

I have also listened carefully to the sample snatches for the other tracks from these albums available on iTunes.  They all sound too slow (and low).
Here are the detailed differences.

                                 Download Seconds    Original Seconds    Difference      Percentage Variation
HEY JUDE               
Hey Jude                              248                           231                      17                  7%
Little Green Apples                216                           196                      20                  9%
Living On Love                    170                                  158                      12                  7%
Just For Tonight                       136                           126                      10                  7%
Both Sides Now                    202                                  187                      15                  7%
Lonely Street                       162                           150                      12                  7%
The Straight Life                    191                           178                      13                  7%
Its All In The Game               242                           230                      12                  5%
More and More                       159                           150                        9                  6%
Those Were The Days               333                           316                      17                  5%

SONGS I WISH I HAD SUNG               
April Showers                       177                           167                      10                  6%
When My Baby                       202                           190                      12                  6%
My Blue Heaven                       174                           164                      10                  6%
A Little Kiss                          190                            176                      14                  7%
Prisoner Of Love                       212                           200                      12                  6%
Ain't Misbehavin'                       185                           173                      12                  6%
Paper Doll                            195                                   181                      14                  7%
This Love Of Mine               183                           169                      14                  8%
Thanks For The Memory       197                           182                      15                  8%
Blues In The Night               206                           193                      13                  6%
Mona Lisa                              196                                   183                      13                  7%
Memories Are Made Of This   194                           180                      14                  7%

(Sorry that I don't seem to be able to line these columns up properly)
All figures compare the stated timings on the iTunes site with the stated timings on my CDs copied from LP. I have deliberatley not processed anything to measure start and finishing points in view of the comment below. My equipment is good and the record sounds 'right'. The downloads definately sound 'wrong', and unless you have the means of speeding them up (and altering the pitch) I would avoid them.

Now why am I getting a different answer to that which I had earlier? Measuring of the same track now gives a different answer!

A possible reason is that my latest measurements were on the unprocessed MP3 downloads. My earlier measurement was on a file converted from MP3 to WAV format. (Only done as a matter of preference because I tend naturally to work with WAV files). I have had some recent problems with the conversion software, but apart from the possibility that it has incorrectly processed the conversion, might it be catching some problem in the MP3 file and correcting it in the conversion process? Another possibility is that I just touched a few incorrect buttons! I don't know because I have no adequate technical knowledge.

Last edited by Richard Baker (29/3/2011 3:21 pm)

- And if such things matter to you, the download version of 'Hey Jude' is in mono.