Richard Pennycuick posted an artilce that stated:

> I still wonder what the market is. ...  Does anyone really want to
> download individual opera recitatives, or spend $40 on a download of a
> complete "Gioconda" that comes without a reliable cast list or libretto?

I am a rabid Mac user and recently (since my birthday:o) an iPod addict
-- however, the fact is that the iTunes Music Store is not geared towards
CM.  This is perhaps obvious, but your question seems to wonder.

Just see the commercials for iPod and you'll see that, well, they ain't
us!  But that's OK, because eventually they will be.  The store will
move from "low hanging fruit" (current hits) to smaller markets, and
perhaps they will devise a better system for CM fans.  In the meanwhile,
I would still much rather go flip through the CDs at Tower or Borders,
or listen to samples (short and sometimes obscure though they may be)
at Towerrecords.com or Amazon.com.

(Back in the days of Napster, once I got over my ethical musings, I
downloaded all sorts of CM cuts that were SO badly labeled that it made
iTunes Store sound like the Library of Congress... I have a great Eroica
with absolutely no idea who performs or conducts, I have movements of
unlabeled pieces, like "allegro", which it was my game to match to  other
loose pieces and make a whole work... I'm glad that's over, but it DID
make me go out and buy some things I never knew about, like Fischer-Dieskau
and Bernstein doing M's lieder -- my life is much better for it).

Miguel Muelle
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http://mmuelle.home.mindspring.com