As a Classical Dilettante, I found this article fascinating. I would love to follow along and hear the examples, but Slate's audio "embedding" is straight outta 1992 (not to mention very Mac-unfriendly).

Please, Slate, fix this. Why can every 12-year old's MySpace page have embedded mp3s, but not your publication?

i was unable to hear the musical excerpts! how can this be fixed? any tips out there?

thanks!

i have an ordinary PC, not apple don't know why it doesn't work on my excellent Winamp thing.

- not a hi-tech guy!

This very good article was made very frustrating by the abyssmal quality of the sound clips.

If I were going by the clips, I would conclude that Haydn and Mozart sound the same -- like total crap. Why are these clowns famous?

It sounds like these were recorded on the very first wax drums, transferred to an 8-Track that was left on the dashboard of an abandoned car, then "ripped" to a digital file using a condenser mic from a 80s-era boom box at a bitrate of 16 bps.

No seriously, GOOD JOB.

Does this mqke me a Classical Dilletante as well, or do I need a degree or certificate or something?

The sound is pretty bad and some clips didn't come through at all. I thought the text was a bit presumptious and filled with music-critic jargon but out here in the boonies we take what we can get. It's just good to read anything about classical music. Anything at all.