I need this song for my Christmas music playlist. Help me find it?
December 28, 2022 4:53 AM Subscribe
I am a little obsessed with The Bells of Christmas by Loreena Mckennitt, from the 1995 movie The Santa Clause. I want an .mp3 to add to my collection. What I have tried, and complicating requirements, inside.
A few people have posted it on YouTube
I have visited Loreena Mckennitt's website and can't find it there. I have used the contact form there to ask about it, no reply so far.
I have searched for the movie soundtrack CD - it exists, but I couldn't find any legit-looking copies for sale.
Complications:
- I want the .mp3 so I can listen offline. It's just how I do things.
- If I can buy a CD, I can make the mp3
- I have never used Spotify and have no idea how it works. Can I use Spotify to buy and download the file? If so, please point me to a "how-to" for that. I would subscribe and then cancel.
- I am aware of tools to download audio from Youtube but that would be my last resort. I would greatly prefer a more legit option. If I have to go that route, my knowledge is out of date - can you vouch for a safe tool to do this with?
A few people have posted it on YouTube
I have visited Loreena Mckennitt's website and can't find it there. I have used the contact form there to ask about it, no reply so far.
I have searched for the movie soundtrack CD - it exists, but I couldn't find any legit-looking copies for sale.
Complications:
- I want the .mp3 so I can listen offline. It's just how I do things.
- If I can buy a CD, I can make the mp3
- I have never used Spotify and have no idea how it works. Can I use Spotify to buy and download the file? If so, please point me to a "how-to" for that. I would subscribe and then cancel.
- I am aware of tools to download audio from Youtube but that would be my last resort. I would greatly prefer a more legit option. If I have to go that route, my knowledge is out of date - can you vouch for a safe tool to do this with?
Never mind, they're all from the sequel, except one, which is a cassette. Sorry.
posted by Dolley at 5:33 AM on December 28, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by Dolley at 5:33 AM on December 28, 2022 [1 favorite]
The CD appears to be available used from several Discogs sellers.
posted by box at 6:12 AM on December 28, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by box at 6:12 AM on December 28, 2022 [1 favorite]
Spotify is strictly streaming. Downloads are only available within the app and they stop working when you stop paying. Also thingß annoyingly drop out of their catalog all the time.
posted by Mitheral at 6:39 AM on December 28, 2022
posted by Mitheral at 6:39 AM on December 28, 2022
A handful of libraries also have the CD, according to WorldCat - might be worth requesting it via interlibrary loan (though that will probably not get it on your playlist for THIS Christmas).
posted by mskyle at 8:23 AM on December 28, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by mskyle at 8:23 AM on December 28, 2022 [1 favorite]
The soundtrack does appear to pop up used on Amazon and Ebay once in a while but I agree, this one is a toughie. If your aversion to downloading it from youtube is purely ethical (as opposed to audio quality) you can still buy the DVD, which means you'd be purchasing a legit copy, but perhaps not in a format useful to you. You could then download that more useful format off youtube? Unless you wanted to try and rip the audio from your DVD yourself, which I suspect is also possible just not something I've done.
Pulling audio from youtube is best done by a program called youtube-dl but in it's native format it's a command line utility. I suspect there are probably several options out there that would put a UI on top of that but I'm not aware of them offhand.
posted by cgg at 8:41 AM on December 28, 2022 [2 favorites]
Pulling audio from youtube is best done by a program called youtube-dl but in it's native format it's a command line utility. I suspect there are probably several options out there that would put a UI on top of that but I'm not aware of them offhand.
posted by cgg at 8:41 AM on December 28, 2022 [2 favorites]
If there's no official way to buy the digital audio, that means there's no official way to get money to the original artists. Buying a used cd on discogs doesn't do anything more to help the original artists than ripping the audio yourself. But I recently discovered that a lot of the "free youtube to mp3 converters" listed on the internet are lies, they actually convert to mp4a files incorrectly labeled as mp3, which many players will not handle properly. I don't have a specific recommendation for a downloader tool as the one I use doesn't seem to be easily available any more, but anything based on youtube-dl should be okay.
This song is short, so you could also just use something like Audacity to record your PC's speaker output and then save it as an MP3 yourself. There are various instructions for doing this online, the HowToGeek instructions look good to me and I've done similar things before.
posted by JZig at 10:02 AM on December 28, 2022
This song is short, so you could also just use something like Audacity to record your PC's speaker output and then save it as an MP3 yourself. There are various instructions for doing this online, the HowToGeek instructions look good to me and I've done similar things before.
posted by JZig at 10:02 AM on December 28, 2022
I'm curious what you mean by "legit-looking copies" available for sale. I can't imagine anyone is going through the trouble of making an illicit copy of The Santa Clause Official Movie Soundtrack on a physical medium like a CD, then posting it for sale.
Or are you supposing that you would not receive what you pay for? A different problem, but seems unlikely to me.
As others have pointed out, no sale of this CD at this point would result in money in the artist's pockets. Do what you need to do to get the song with a clear conscious says this internet stranger.
My vote is trying interlibrary loan then burning it, or setting up an ebay alert. I've also occasionally used discogs with success. Good luck!
posted by AbelMelveny at 10:11 AM on December 28, 2022 [1 favorite]
Or are you supposing that you would not receive what you pay for? A different problem, but seems unlikely to me.
As others have pointed out, no sale of this CD at this point would result in money in the artist's pockets. Do what you need to do to get the song with a clear conscious says this internet stranger.
My vote is trying interlibrary loan then burning it, or setting up an ebay alert. I've also occasionally used discogs with success. Good luck!
posted by AbelMelveny at 10:11 AM on December 28, 2022 [1 favorite]
(Also, Loreena McKennitt is quite wealthy and, even though she has released a Christmas EP, a Christmas album, a greatest-hits album, and a box set, she has never seen fit to release this song anywhere other than on the soundtrack to a Tim Allen movie.
I think she'd be cool with however you wanted to source it.)
posted by box at 11:02 AM on December 28, 2022
I think she'd be cool with however you wanted to source it.)
posted by box at 11:02 AM on December 28, 2022
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by Dolley at 5:28 AM on December 28, 2022