General Feedback/Questions on Audio Lecture Program

This forum is for focused discussions on The Collected Lectures of Joseph Campbell. Each lecture has its own dedicated conversation.

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SongwriterPhil
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Post by SongwriterPhil »

Hi Bjorn,

First of all, thank you for your patience in waiting for this response-- many apologies for the delay!

To answer your question, the new Campbell releases through iTunes do in fact have a bitrate of 256 kbps. (I will check with Martin re: his previous response to see what led him to conclude that the new lectures are at 128 kbit/s, but can assure you that it is 256.)

We've made arrangements with iTunes to offer the entirety of the new lecture series with their iTunes Plus designation. Not only does iTunes Plus format feature the 256 kbps bitrate (as opposed to the formerly standard iTunes bitrate of 128 kbps), but iTunes Plus files are also DRM-free.

(DRM stands for Digital Rights Management, and when audio files include DRM encoding, that means they are limited in the number of machines they can be played on/transferred to. DRM-encoded tracks have been a sore point among digital music consumers since the inception of iTunes, and Apple has finally capitulated to industry demand by offering DRM-free tracks. So, once purchased, you can transfer/copy/listen to your Campbell lecture tracks anywhere, as much as you want-- this wouldn't have been the case with iTunes just a couple years ago.)

Here is a cut-and-paste from the Apple site describing iTunes Plus:
iTunes Plus music refers to songs and music videos available in our highest-quality 256 kbps AAC encoding (twice the current bit rate of 128 kbps), and without digital rights management (DRM). There are no burn limits and iTunes Plus music will play on all iPods, Mac or Windows computers, Apple TVs, and many other digital music players.
For more on this topic, you can read this article on the Apple site from May 2007, when iTunes Plus was first introduced. Back then, they imagined offering iTunes Plus tracks for $1.29 as opposed to the standard tracks for $0.99, but since then, they've lowered the price to $0.99 as well. In fact, iTunes Plus is becoming the new standard across iTunes, and Apple is in the process of phasing out the old standard so that everything will be iTunes Plus across the board:

http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2007/05 ... splus.html

That's probably more information than you wanted, but I thought it might be helpful to have all of this info in one place.

Finally, thank you for your support for and enthusiasm for the lectures!

Please let us know if you have any more questions, and I promise to answer in a more timely fashion next time :-)

-Phil

ulysses1089
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Post by ulysses1089 »

hello JCF,

Im excited to hear the next series of lectures. When are those gonna be released???

Joe Miller
St. johns College

SongwriterPhil
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Post by SongwriterPhil »

Hi Ulysses1089,

First of all, thank you for your interest in and support of the lectures!

Due to a number of factors, it's a little hard to predict with precision when the lectures will actually show up in the iTunes store (Apple varies quite a bit in how quickly they push releases through the queue once we've submitted to them).

The next batch of three lectures are almost complete and we will be submitting them to iTunes shortly.

My best ballpark guess at the moment is they should show up in the next 6-8 weeks.

Hope that helps!

Once we get the kinks out of our process with these first couple batches, we aim to have new lectures released every other month or so.

-Phil

ulysses1089
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Post by ulysses1089 »

Phil,

Nice. Ill be looking forward to those.

Im actually a college student and im studying greek classics right now. So many of the ideas in those old texts are so hidden in the language. Its a real labor to get down to the basic concepts. I love how Campbell reworks these things in the most concise, right to the point manner.

anyways, thanks for the info,
Joe Miller
St. johns College

SongwriterPhil
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Post by SongwriterPhil »

No problem, Joe--

Wishing you continued success in your college studies!

Bjorn
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Post by Bjorn »

Hi Phil!

Many thanks for this answer. Brilliant. Yes, 256 kpbs is arguably much better than 128, and with the files released without DRM it's even better!!

I will definitely begin ordering these lectures, especially the new versions never before released.

Follow your bliss,

Martin_Weyers
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Post by Martin_Weyers »

SongwriterPhil wrote: To answer your question, the new Campbell releases through iTunes do in fact have a bitrate of 256 kbps. (I will check with Martin re: his previous response to see what led him to conclude that the new lectures are at 128 kbit/s, but can assure you that it is 256.)
I'm sorry for what is seemingly a misinformation. I already own the pre-published lectures, and they are 128 kbps. To check the new standard after Bjorn raised his original question, I downloaded one of the new lectures directly from the JCF server (Mythic Themes in Literature and Art), where they have been uploaded for the lecture team to use for their work. My iTunes definitely says it's 128 kbps. I'm wondering if iTunes reduced the bitrate on my PC, because I have chosen 128 kbps as as standard setting for importing CDs. Alternatively I may have downloaded the wrong file. Or the bitrate of the files on our server has been reduced.
iTunes Plus music refers to songs and music videos available in our highest-quality 256 kbps AAC encoding (twice the current bit rate of 128 kbps), and without digital rights management (DRM). There are no burn limits and iTunes Plus music will play on all iPods, Mac or Windows computers, Apple TVs, and many other digital music players.
Did you check the files or just copy the information from iTunes? I know that iTunes Plus allows a higher bitrate; However, if you send them files with 128 kbps, you still get 128 kbps on iTunes. Am I mistaken?
ulysses1089 wrote:So many of the ideas in those old texts are so hidden in the language. Its a real labor to get down to the basic concepts. I love how Campbell reworks these things in the most concise, right to the point manner.
Joe, you have put it perfectly! That statement would make a fine iTunes review ...! :wink:
Last edited by Martin_Weyers on Fri May 01, 2009 8:15 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Works of art are indeed always products of having been in danger, of having gone to the very end in an experience, to where man can go no further. -- Rainer Maria Rilke

Martin_Weyers
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Post by Martin_Weyers »

Mistrustful person that I am, I just spent 99 cent (yes, it's more expensive here!) and downloaded the first part of lecture I from iTunes Europe (though I already own these lectures with 128 kbps), and can certify that the new edition is 256 kbps. In the next step I'll try to find out, if I can hear the difference!
Works of art are indeed always products of having been in danger, of having gone to the very end in an experience, to where man can go no further. -- Rainer Maria Rilke

SongwriterPhil
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Post by SongwriterPhil »

Hi Martin,

I'm not sure which specific audio file(s) of the II.1.1 lecture you listened to (there are multiple versions representing different experiments and different stages of the pipeline on our internal server), but it sounds likely that you were listening to an mp3 that had previously been created from the source recording. An mp3 taken from there would not surprisingly be at 128 kbps, as your iTunes has told you.

When we submit to our digital distributor (part of the pipeline on the way to iTunes), however, we submit a CD-quality recording from which they will rip fresh mp3's at the higher bit-rate.

A mysterious, multi-step process indeed, no wonder there's been some confusion about it...!

Did your ears detect a difference in sound quality between the old mp3 and the new?

creekmary
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Post by creekmary »

I am just happy that they are here (the lectures). It has been a while since I got a chance to listen to them andI don't get as much of a chance to listen to them as I would like, but just listening them as I am able via computer without purchase or downloading is great. I'm very grateful to you all! Thanks.

Susan

SongwriterPhil
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Post by SongwriterPhil »

Susan (creekmary),
Thank you for your support and enthusiasm for the lectures!

I'm curious-- how are you able to listen to them without purchase or download, as you say? As far as we know, the lectures aren't streamable and do in fact require download from iTunes before you can listen to them on your computer.

Thank you for clarifying, and happy listening!
-Phil

creekmary
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Post by creekmary »

I don't know how it worked, but I was able to listen to this one on the computer off the internet at the house. I haven't tried any of the others yet, but I'll see if I can get it past the firewalls at work and see if I can do it again.

Suz

creekmary
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Post by creekmary »

Well...I can't do it any more. That first time I had it on the computer and was listening to it. Not any more.

Susan

SongwriterPhil
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Post by SongwriterPhil »

Susan,
Thanks for checking, and for clarifying!

Since we've reduced the price of each lecture to $5.99, hopefully that's a reasonable amount to pay in order to download each lecture from iTunes-- we hope that you (as well as all of our associates) feel that it's well worth the value!

(Revenue earned from the iTunes downloads of the lectures goes toward important JCF initiatives-- like keeping this site running as well as finishing new Campbell projects-- including finishing production on the remaining episodes of Mythos and producing these new digital releases of the remaining lectures in the archive.)

Thank you again for your support, and we're happy to be able to make these lectures available to you and look forward to doing that for a long time to come!

-Phil

drichards
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1.1.4 & 1.1.5 & 1.21 on itunes

Post by drichards »

Phil
I noticed the new lectures on itunes. Though the price on 1.1.4 & 1.1.5 list at 5.99, when you add them to your cart, they appear as 9.99 each. 1.2.1 list as 9.99

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