Carpenters albums deleted from iTunes?

[Kristopher]

I bought most of their albums on iTunes and I went to buy the two I was missing passage and a voice of the heart and they don’t even show up. Only essential collection, kind of hush, as time goes by, lovelines, and made in America are the only ones showing now. Any issues on others with iPhones?

 

[Mike Blakesley]

I get the same results here.

This is one major irritation with "online" music vs. buying a physical product. You never know when your chosen "store" will no longer have the songs you want to play. I had the same issue with some Bob Welch albums a few years ago...I'd downloaded a few favorite tunes, then when I went to fill in a couple of the albums, lo and behold....they weren't there. And they still aren't.

In this case, as huge as the Carpenters are, I'd bet it's a temporary situation. Once some lawyer gets what he wants from either Apple or Universal, the Carpenters albums will show back up.

 

[Kristopher]

I just paid $40 for the essential collection I’m out of state and wanted music on the go. I bought time and everything else but passage and voice of the heart which I’m missing. Thank god I bought most of their albums one night when a customer paid me 500 one night. Ticket to ride is nowhere in the store now. Neither is close to you!! I can family share and they can download the albums.

 

[tomswift2002]

Here in Canada only The Essential Collection, A Kind of Hush, Made In America & Lovelines are available. And if you search under just "Richard Carpenter" his The Essential Collection, Time & Pianist, Arranger, Composer, Conductor albums come up. And just "Karen Carpenter" brings up Karen Carpenter & The Essential Collection.

Not even Christmas Portrait Special Edition is available. Odd.

 

[WYBIMLA]

^I'm getting the same thing.

Good thing I have a physical copies!

You never know when an online store may go down, eh?

Good catch Kristopher. I've had the some of the same digital files I bought in '08.
Though I never thought I'd see options for their catalogue would disappear like this.

Could Richard or the label be amidst making a new deal maybe?

I mean "Time" and everything was up there not that long ago...

 

[Song4uman]

Maybe they’re pulling them all off iTunes so they can have a big release for the 50th. Ha
Jonathan

 

[CARPENTERS-COLLECTOR]

$40 (£30) sounds a lot to me for downloaded music, as I`ve never downloaded any.
wouldn't it be easy to just buy the cd set and convert them to MP3 yourself?

 

[WYBIMLA]

Maybe they’re pulling them all off iTunes so they can have a big release for the 50th. Ha
Jonathan

You never know. The timing is curious... makes you think something is brewing.

I doubt this, but here's a potential scenario:

When they're put back, it could be with a reinforcement of the "Mastered for Itunes" policy.
A chance to replace albums with Richard's remixes. He did those for improved quality.
So, in theory, they could replace the albums with both remixes and original mixes for optimal sound.

Essentially re-making history.

Perhaps your average music buyer finds the different remixes (taking place in 87 and 91, etc) confusing. So, maybe giving Richard the final say in how he wants the albums to be experienced is why it's down,
for now.

 

[Mike Blakesley]

I'm voting with the "making a new deal" camp. The albums still there (outside of Essential) are ones that are mostly outside the "mass market" as far as containing huge hits, etc., and it's a fact that those earlier hits-filled albums are more valuable in the catalog. I'd guess that some previous deal's time ran out, and the negotiations are going on for a new contract to put them back up. It just doesn't seem logical that an artist as big as Carpenters wouldn't be on iTunes with their whole catalog... or at least, their most popular albums.

On the other hand, it's not logical that an artist as big as Carpenters doesn't have an updated web presence either, but THAT has happened...so anything can happen, I guess.

 

[Kristopher]

Technically if I deleted them can I redownload them? I added 2 family members as a test and they are able to download all of them. I have the physical discs all ripped but I want to own everything digital just for collector reasons and in case i lose everything. Passage and voice of the heart I am missing now even though I have the CD ripped already. I want the iTunes versions to compare to quality as well.

 

[Bobberman]

I just checked Amazon and Voice of the heart and Passage mp3 albums appear to have disappeared too but physical copies are still availible

 

[tomswift2002]

Technically if I deleted them can I redownload them? I added 2 family members as a test and they are able to download all of them. I have the physical discs all ripped but I want to own everything digital just for collector reasons and in case i lose everything. Passage and voice of the heart I am missing now even though I have the CD ripped already. I want the iTunes versions to compare to quality as well.

Theoretically you should as they should be linked to your account.

 

[Sue]

That is odd last night I was looking for Karen’s solo album which I was thinking of getting and it was there as well as most of the other albums! That was on my pc but just looked on my phone iTunes Store and there are about 5
Close to You
Loveliness
Nations favourite
Made in America
Kind of Hush
Live Broadcast Budokan
Essentials

I’m in Uk. Guess I’ve missed the boat on the solo album for now!

 

[Simon KC1950]

I'm on Spotify... Have all of their albums & more on cd & vinyl but use Spotify for when I'm out.... Annoyingly it has all the studio albums except As Time Goes By. It has non of the solo albums and only a few compilations like The Essential Collection. Non of the live albums either.

 

[WYBIMLA]

In Canada there weren't any live albums available.
Only "From this moment" from the Essentials collection was what I could get.
I bought Palladium '76, and never heard Budokan '74 in full.
I've heard many clips from those concerts though.
'72 Australia was probably one of their best (there's something to seeing Karen playing drums and singing).
In the audience maybe you couldn't see her, but on camera it's awesome!

Anyways, I just though Richard didn't like Live albums... which was why I never saw them for online purchase.

 

[Kristopher]

I bought the essential collection on iTunes yesterday and noticed it’s missing Goodnight from “From the top.”

For $40 there should be some special pdf booklet. Maybe on my computer?

 

[Harry]

I would never buy a "file" unless the only way to obtain the song was to buy a download. The booklets to both FROM THE TOP and ESSENTIAL COLLECTION are --- essential!

 

[Song4uman]

I have From the Top. Bought when it was released. Just got Essential Collection recently for $14. It is in great shape but no booklet.

 

[Must Hear This Album]

I use Amazon music streaming, and looking just now, the only 6 albums listed on that service are:

As Time Goes By
Made In America
A Kind Of Hush
Lovelines
Christmas Portrait (special edition)
Christmas Collection.

Hmm...

I’m gonna guess litigation or commemoration (of the 50th).

 

[CraigGA]

One of the things I dislike most over this issue is that there are songs Alexa, on the Amazon Echo system, no longer knows.

 

[tomswift2002]

I prefer the sound of the uncompressed CD over the MP3’s that iTunes uses.

 

[Harry]

Frankly, I'm surprised that so many are listening to Carpenters music via streaming and mp3s. I always get everything on CD and make my own "traveling music" - and never mp3s. I use the wma (Windows media) compression. It sounds better than mp3 to my ears.

 

[Daniel Perales]

Frankly, I'm surprised that so many are listening to Carpenters music via streaming and mp3s. I always get everything on CD and make my own "traveling music" - and never mp3s. I use the wma (Windows media) compression. It sounds better than mp3 to my ears.

Me, too.

 

[Song4uman]

Me three.

 

[Must Hear This Album]

Frankly, I'm surprised that so many are listening to Carpenters music via streaming and mp3s. I always get everything on CD and make my own "traveling music" - and never mp3s. I use the wma (Windows media) compression. It sounds better than mp3 to my ears.

No disagreement, here, and I appreciate the insights from knowledgable folks on this forum who pay attention to sound quality, but mostly, I just like hearing the music (and the technical stuff goes over my head). I like the mp3s mostly for ease and accessibility.

Funny, though. I haven’t listened to any of my Amazon Carpenters playlists for awhile, and now that I know they’re not available, that’s all I want to listen to now (ah, the power of suggestion and/or scarcity). Glad I still have my CDs.