The Beatles on iTunes is Great, What About the Remasters?
It looks like Steve Jobs and The Beatles have finally made peace, once and for all.
Last year, both sides settled a decades long series of legal skirmishes over the brand name “Apple.” Now that they have patched up that issue, it appears the band will finally agree to allow their songs to be sold digitally through the iTunes Music Store. At present, Beatles songs are not legally available in digital format anywhere.
That’s great, but I own The Beatles’ discography and already have those songs on my iPod. Rumors have also been swirling that this year The Beatles will release re-mastered versions of their albums! Let us hope this news will be announced simultaneously because this catalog of music, as important as any in pop music history, needs a refresh. The albums were not transferred to CD with a lot of care and it is high time these wonderful records were given the deluxe treatment.
I will re-purchase every loving one of these albums if the proper care and respect is given to restoring the sound, cover art, and packaging of these records and I will enjoy doing it. 2007: The Year of the Beatles. It could happen.
As to the anticipated news of the hour, it is great the band is finally embracing the concept of digital delivery. I am still a hardcore fan of the physical medium, but consumer choice is what fans deserve.
Filed under: Tags: Paul McCartney, The Beatles
…yawn.
What do you mean, yawn? I don’t care about the digital tracks, but I’d love more authentic sounding, better packaged Beatles albums.
more about the itunes thing.
a remastered catalog will be good, though i have my doubts as to how much improvement we’ll hear.
There is a lot of room for improvement. I’m more worried about them getting aggressive with the EQ in the labs.
yep. depends who does it. i just hope they don’t go the stupid route and compress the bejezuz out of things just to get things to sound louder.
Exactly, volume and bass must be kept in check. Sure, I like some low end but I don’t want this remaster (allegedly) to turn in to a remix.
worse than a remix (ok, different than a remix) is the remaster that cranks up the levels so much that there are actually bits of distortion.
i’ve heard several instances of this. i’m always amazed that it’s allowed to happen.
That’s what I mean… remasters, to me, aren’t supposed to change the song. They are to enhance the technical quality of the song and the process of moving it from tape to CD. Some of these remasters basically EQ the song and blast the volume so that it doeesn’t sound like the same song as what you started with.
I am amazed that it happens, but in this era volume and bass are what most people want.
is this part of an April’s Fools gag? the headline from the article you link to reads, “Apple/EMI in deal, but Beatles not included.”
I’ve seen multiple news services and sites pick up the story, so if it is a hoax someone has done one hell of a job. We shall see.
Turns out the announcement was for DRM-free music, not the Beatles. Sigh.
NME reports they have confirmation the tracks are going to be provided in digital format, but that they don’t have the exact date.
The joke’s on us. I do like DRM-free music, though.
I understand that the remastering process is complete and that the catalog is ready to go. Let’s all hope they put the project in the capable hands of someone like analog-to-digital guru Steve Hoffman, thereby assuring the warmth and clarity of the original tapes will shine through.