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The Company you Keep

It is always instructive to keep an eye on the competition on Google.

Take Bach MP3 as a popular keyword phrase for example - there we are most of the way down the first page. Our regular companion Classical Cat catalog of free mp3 organised by composer almost always to be found on composer mp3 first pages near the top. Some of the others are reputable expert Bach sites but their MP3 offerings are a bit thin. There are one or two of these automated content directory pages that are no use to anyone and some subtle and not so subtle fronts for some of the Mega MP3 sites which ofetn appear two or three times in these results. There is also a performer using MP3 recordings to promote his concerts which is cool by me.


There are no other independent publishers and no sign of iTunes but I guess that they don't need to bother. You don't get to the very cheap, Russian based, album download site till mid page 2 and then there is the prolific pianist who is offering his recordings quite cheaply - some album length files for as little as a Euro.

By page three we are starting to get more of the quirky results which don't refer to JS bach at all and more russian sites - not that we are predjudiced you understand. One includes an album of guitar arrangements which sounds quite nice. No wonder everyone gives up before they get to Page 3.


In some respects we stick out like a sore thumb in this company but surely some of the comparisons make us look pretty good. In particular access to our samples is straight forward and our offering is clear but in this company we look expensive. It is also interesting to note that the visitors accepting help from our iPod and iTunes pages hardly ever delve further into the site even after they have been on the page for two or three minutes.

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