Many of you adventurous soloists have downloaded your accompaniment tracks in Ogg Vorbis format, only to find out that they don’t play in your standard media player and you’re lost from there.  To help this confusion, I’ll explain why we sell Ogg Vorbis files and what you can and can’t do with them.  This will help you know if you should download Ogg Vorbis or MP3 files.

As far as we know, we are the only place on the Internet where you can download your music in Ogg Vorbis format.  We decided to provide this option because so many of you are accompaniment track customers who broadcast the music for performance in large sanctuaries and other similar size rooms.  Many times, these rooms are equipped with high-end sound systems.  Ogg Vorbis is capable of delivering a broader and richer sound than MP3.  Thus, your overall performance shines brighter.  For listening/practicing on a computer system, in a home, or car, the sound quality difference between Ogg Vorbis and MP3 is sometimes detectable but not often by an appreciable amount.

Probably the most frustrating aspect of Ogg Vorbis files for our customers is that they WILL NOT PLAY on Windows Media Player and many handheld MP3 players.  Unless you’re an audiophile, you probably don’t have software installed that can play or burn Ogg Vorbis files.  The good new is that this can be overcome! The best software we’ve found for this is Winamp, which you can download for free. It will play Ogg Vorbis files as well as create a CD which can be used in standard CD players. Winamp’s help section has a great step-by-step guide for burning a CD.  Winamp can convert your Ogg Vorbis files into MP3, too.  Be aware, however, that sound quality is not gained when going the other way around (converting an MP3 to an Ogg Vorbis).  It’s kind of like a photo; you can make a color photo black and white but you can’t make a black and white photo into a color.  If you’re not sure whether your church’s sound system will play Ogg Vorbis files, we encourage you to take advantage of our Sample Downloads and try it.  These can give you an opportunity to practice your converting and burning skills too.

With all that in mind, the decision of whether you should download MP3 or Ogg Vorbis files depends on how/where you’re going to use them and how comfortable you are with using the software needed to handle an Ogg Vorbis.

We are committed to offering you not only the broadest selection of Christian music available anywhere, but the best quality, and support too.  In the next month, look for our set of video tutorials designed to walk you step by step through these processes.

I want to talk about downloads a moment.  Many of you have never downloaded a song in your life, and that’s fine; we are in business to ship CDs everywhere.  But a number of you save on freight and time by buying this way.

For those of you who are new to the concept, consider these two possibilities:

• The pastor changes his sermon and calls you Friday evening about your Sunday morning song, you can change it if you know how to download a song, rip it to a CD in your PC.
• When the church or a funeral home calls, and the family wants you to sing a specific song for their loved one’s funeral and it is available at Christwill, but not in your library. Again, you can sing it.

With out belaboring the point, I want to just invite you to look at our answers about how to do this, and learn what to do, so you can be fully prepared when the need arises.  It’s not that we think CDs will ever be replaced by downloads, but they sure can be supplemented by them.  And with our two flagship lines of Christian accompaniment soundtracks from Christian World and Daywind Records available for download, plus some smaller studios, there is no reason for you to ever have to again say, “No, I can’t change/get that soundtrack in time.”