Review Your Favourite 24-Bits Of Christmas Track
Earlier this month award-winning record label and high quality music systems manufacturer, Linn, announced their special gift for music lovers this Christmas. They’re giving away a free 24-bit Studio Master track every day until Christmas day, available to download at www.linn.co.uk/Christmas.
A Studio Master, or 24-bit download, is the highest quality music file available, allowing the listener to hear music exactly as it was recorded, before it was altered to fit on a CD or squashed down to MP3 size. Because the best way to listen to this Studio Master music is through a Linn system, Linn are offering one lucky winner the chance to win their very own Linn Kiko system.
To be in for the chance of winning this Kiko system, all you have to do is;
- Download a 24-bits of Christmas track via www.linn.co.uk/christmas
- Review the track – it can be as long or short as you like
- And then, post the review on Linn’s Facebook page, www.facebook.com/linnhifi
Your review can be a few words, a sentence or paragraph – it’s up to you. Tell us why you love this 24-bits of Christmas track; the lyrics, the bassline, that beautiful harmony, the way it makes you feel.
Go on, become a music journalist for the day; get inventive.
You have until Sunday 5th January, 00:00GMT. Linn will announce the winner on Friday 10th January.
24-bits of Christmas downloads
One Studio Master track will be available to download every day until Christmas for a 24 hour period only, beginning at 10:00GMT.
From the 25th – 27th December, Linn will offer a surprise gift.
More About 24-bit Studio Masters
When music entered the digital realm the major driving factor behind new technology was convenience. By taking the analogue sound wave, that was once pressed into vinyl, slicing it up and converting it to 1s and 0s so that it could fit on a small shiny Compact Disc. These were great because they could be played thousands of times without degrading. They were easier to store and cheaper to manufacturer, however, they were also susceptible to scratches and fingerprints. At the time there were some who concluded that they just didn’t sound as good as vinyl.
They were right. CDs are actually the lowest quality music format – even an 8-track tape was capable of holding much more information than this optical media. The dynamic range – the highs and lows in volume and subtleties of the music – as well as the underlying ‘noisiness’ of the recordings suffered, but to the average listener this didn’t really matter; they were just so convenient.
Fast forward ten to fifteen years and welcome the MP3. Suddenly the prospect of having 10,000 songs in your pocket appealed, and it was even more convenient to be able to buy an album without walking to the record store – or even better, to discover amazing new music through the internet. However, this required music to be chopped up into even fewer 1s and 0s and compressed into even smaller spaces, sacrificing even more dynamic range, squashing the subtleties and adding noise in the holes where there once was music.
A Studio Master download is the highest quality music file on the market. They have a bit depth of 24-bit, and a sample rate of up to 192kHz, giving the listener over six times the music data available on a CD! Available in a choice of digital music formats, Studio Master music has the same quality as the original recording, which means that listener can get as close to that lovely, rich and dynamic performance by the artist.
How to play Studio Master downloads
Studio Masters can be streamed through a network music player including Linn’s own range of award-winning DS players, as well as computers with 24-bit soundcards using applications such as Songbird. For more information see: http://www.linnrecords.com/linn-choosing-a-download.aspx
More about Kiko
Beautifully designed, sleek and compact, Kiko is small enough to find a place in any living room, kitchen or bedroom. Bring great music to any room with Kiko.
Transform any sound from your computer by playing it through Kiko – instantly make your iTunes collection sing and get the very best from online apps such as Spotify, YouTube, Netflix and iPlayer.
You can play music wirelessly by sending sound from your PC, Mac, iPad or iPhone, or connect your living room together with Kiko to get brilliant sound quality from HD TV, Blu-ray movies and game consoles.
Available in six contemporary colours – from low-key Back to Black to funky Blue Monday – Kiko is a music system that fits perfectly with the way you live.
Gilad Tiefenbrun, Linn Managing Director, said “Music is such an important part of our lives. The way we consume music continues to evolve and the internet has become a hugely important source of content with music and movie services like Spotify, Napster, YouTube, Netflix and catch-up TV services.
Our Linn DS range, which consists of models right across the price spectrum, has also evolved since we first launched in 2007. You can now play music wirelessly from computers and mobile devices, stream online music and movies, and connect everything in the modern living room through your Linn system, simplifying your listening experience and making everything sound better. And now with Kiko we’re helping to bring great sound beyond the living room, to all the social areas of the house where music is being consumed more-or-less constantly.”
Visit www.linn.co.uk to learn more about Linn’s range of network music players and discover how digital streaming works. Find out what a Linn system can do and why streaming sounds better.