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The Seventh Taylor
Joined: 17 Aug 2007
Posts: 401
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 Posted: Fri Oct 31, 2008 8:57 am Post subject: Beatles coming to iPod and to videogames -- why not SACD? |
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Two interesting announcement concerning The Beatles this week:
1. Beatles-Branded iPod Ready for Christmas | Quote: | The Beatles and Apple Computer are celebrating the end of the feud between them with a ridiculously expensive limited-edition iPod.
The Fab Four and Apple's long-awaited first joint venture isn't to bring the Beatles catalog to iTunes, but a $795 Beatles-branded 120GB iPod. The Beatles pod features the band's logo on the front and Abbey Road laser-engraved on the back and, for reasons unexplained, comes packaged with the band's entire 13-album catalog on CD instead of pre-loaded. It also ships in a special collectors' box. For sale exclusively at Bloomingdale's, the package is limited to 2,500 units.
After a lengthy courtroom battle over trademark issues, The Beatles claims against the Apple logo in digital music were denied in court in 2006. The ruling was supposed to pave the way for the Fab Four's songs to appear on iTunes, which hasn't materialized yet. |
One can wonder why the music does not come preloaded but on RBCD. Possibly because they weren't happy with the sound quality. Perhaps they had difficulty with the perceived value of a $795 iPod without any bundled stuff because the content is not directly visible/tangible, so they felt they had to bundle the CDs and wanted to make it not too obvious to de-bundle them i.e. people or retailers taking the CDs and selling them separately.
Anyway, in other news:
2. MTV strikes deal to use Beatles songs in video game | Quote: | (Reuters)
Posted on Thu Oct 30, 2008 1:17PM EDT
NEW YORK (Reuters) - MTV Networks announced on Thursday a deal to use songs by The Beatles in a custom video game similar to its popular "Rock Band" video, marking the groundbreaking band's first major plunge into digital music.
There is no set release date or sale price for the game, but it is due to be ready for a worldwide release in about a year, said MTV Networks and The Beatles' Apple, which handles the affairs of the group that broke up in 1970 after revolutionizing rock and roll in the 1960s.
The companies released few details about the game -- which will be a custom video and not a "Rock Band" brand game -- saying it is still in development. They would only say that it will be an "interactive music making game."
"Rock Band" -- which is developed by MTV's Harmonix and published by Electronic Arts Inc and competes against Activision Blizzard Inc's rival "Guitar Hero" video -- lets fans play plastic guitars along with music on TV screens.
Jeff Jones, chief executive of Apple Corps Ltd, said while he could not say how many songs would be used in the custom game, it would use music from throughout The Beatles' career.
"This game will take you on a journey from The Beatles first album 'Please, Please Me' all the way through the last album 'Abbey Road.' It will span samples of the whole catalog all the way through," Jones said.
The Beatles have sold more than 600 million albums worldwide. While "Abbey Road" was the last album they recorded together, "Let it Be" -- recorded before "Abbey Road" -- was the final album released.
MTV Networks, owned by Viacom Inc's, said the game was conceived creatively by former Beatles Sir Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr and the wives of late Beatles John Lennon and George Harrison, Yoko Ono Lennon and Olivia Harrison.
"The project is a fun idea which broadens the appeal of The Beatles and their music. I like people having the opportunity to get to know the music from the inside out," McCartney said in a statement.
Starr said it was wonderful that The Beatles' legacy "will find its natural progression into the 21st century through the computerized world we live in. Let the games commence."
While The Beatles' video will be a custom game, other bands including classic rock veterans Aerosmith, The Rolling Stones, AC/DC and others have licensed their music to "Guitar Hero" or "Rock Band."
Pop music fans consider The Beatles perhaps the greatest rock band ever. Surviving members of the group as well as its representatives have jealously guarded the distribution of their music online.
For example, Beatles songs are unavailable on Apple Inc's iTunes over concerns that the songs could be easily pirated.
When asked about plans for the digital distribution of The Beatles catalog, Jones said, "We're still working out the details, we have no announcement to make, we have not date or any information, we're still working on the details." |
If all of these licenses are possible, why can't they spend some time and effort on making proper remasters (high-resolution, preferably multichannel) available on SACD, or even DVD-Audio, like the fantastic Love album? Or even simply license the rights to a company like MoFi who could do this?
The mind boggles. |
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Brandon B
Joined: 14 Oct 2007
Posts: 392
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| Posted: Fri Oct 31, 2008 2:03 pm Post subject: |
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| Quote: | | why can't they spend some time and effort on making proper remasters |
Seems like the answer is contained in your question. The two releases above bring in cash with no time and effort. Lots of cash The release of SACDs do the opposite. Require time and effort for a minimal return.
We are unfortunately a niche market segment, who will mostly only be served by artists and companies who at least somewhat share our passion.
Bummer. I for one would quite likely buy almost the entire Beatles catalog on SACD. |
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Superman
Joined: 17 Jan 2008
Posts: 19
Location: Metropolis
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| Posted: Fri Dec 12, 2008 6:14 am Post subject: |
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| The Beatles will not even release new issues of their albums on standard cds, much less SACDs. I really wish for it to happen but I have more chance of being struck by lightning on the Moon than getting these albums on SACD. |
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PS3SACD
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Joined: 17 Aug 2007
Posts: 316
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| Posted: Fri Nov 06, 2009 9:43 am Post subject: Re: Beatles coming to iPod and to videogames -- why not SACD |
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Ok, so the proper remasters have been done (in mono and stereo, not multichannel) and after the RBCD releases they're finally going to see the light of day in high resolution -- 44.1kHz 24-bit, that is, in FLAC, on USB.
See http://www.ps3sacd.com/news.html#_20091106 |
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Brandon B
Joined: 14 Oct 2007
Posts: 392
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| Posted: Fri Nov 06, 2009 6:05 pm Post subject: |
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Did Superman get struck by lightning? Or was that only in the event of SACD releases, not RBCD?
Would you consider 44.1 hi rez, even at 24 bit?
Not sure I have ever heard a comparison between two version where the only difference was bit depth, not sample rate as well. |
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The Seventh Taylor
Joined: 17 Aug 2007
Posts: 401
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| Posted: Fri Nov 06, 2009 9:17 pm Post subject: |
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| Brandon B wrote: | Would you consider 44.1 hi rez, even at 24 bit?
Not sure I have ever heard a comparison between two version where the only difference was bit depth, not sample rate as well. |
Yes, interesting question. If you'd have to choose between 44.1 kHz/24 bit and 96 kHz/16 bit, which would sound better?
I tend to think starting with red book audio you'll benefit more from higher resolution in the time domain. After all, DSD is like PCM with 1-bit resolution but 64x the sampling frequency. |
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Brandon B
Joined: 14 Oct 2007
Posts: 392
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| Posted: Mon Nov 09, 2009 4:53 pm Post subject: |
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No question higher sampling frequency would be better.
I just wonder if there is any benefit at all to the bit depth alone. From what I have read, on the stereo remasters, they did bump them slightly to make them "hotter", although not to the horribly compressed levels many modern mixes are done.
Given that, and the SNR of RBCD, would there really be any advantage at all to an increase only to bit depth?
Given it is a limited production release (30,000 copies), I am probably not going to end up with it. But since this was a surprise, who knows, maybe a blu-ray or SACD surprise could come on its heels once this sells out. I have my LPs for stereo and the mono remasters to comfort me if not. |
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mister_playboy
Joined: 29 Dec 2007
Posts: 28
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| Posted: Mon Nov 09, 2009 9:47 pm Post subject: |
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| The features of this release seem to have been chosen by someone who has no idea what they are taking about... especially puzzling is the "320kbps" part. What the heck does that mean? This isn't a MP3... how can you force a lossless compression scheme to a given bitrate? |
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PS3SACD
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Joined: 17 Aug 2007
Posts: 316
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| Posted: Tue Nov 10, 2009 12:11 pm Post subject: |
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| mister_playboy wrote: | | especially puzzling is the "320kbps" part. What the heck does that mean? This isn't a MP3... how can you force a lossless compression scheme to a given bitrate? |
That one has us puzzled too. It's posible, so long as you choose the ceiling high enough you can achieve a Fixed Bit Rate with lossless compression but of course it would be a silly waste to do so.
In fact guaranteeing any specific bit rate other than the original bit rate is difficult with lossless compression yet this is what DST offers -- the scheme employed for multichannel DSD on SACD. It's unlikely the IP used for that is employed by FLAC.
Probably whoever wrote the blurb was just confused, mixing up things and effectively talking nonsense. Question now is whether it's 320 kbps MP3 or FLAC (with Variable Bit Rate). Probably the latter. |
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Brandon B
Joined: 14 Oct 2007
Posts: 392
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| Posted: Tue Nov 10, 2009 8:02 pm Post subject: |
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If you read around, the set has both MP3 and FLAC toegether on the USB drive.
The MP3s are at 320. |
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PS3SACD
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Joined: 17 Aug 2007
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| Posted: Wed Nov 11, 2009 11:09 am Post subject: |
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You're absolutely right. I should take more time and learn to read.
The article is adjusted now. |
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Brandon B
Joined: 14 Oct 2007
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| Posted: Wed Nov 11, 2009 3:26 pm Post subject: |
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Think how many normal consumers are confused though.
"What's a FLAC?" |
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PS3SACD
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| Posted: Wed Nov 11, 2009 9:24 pm Post subject: |
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| That's right. Our explanation that it's losslessly compressed PCM will not help much there either. The statement "compatible with PC and Mac" should probably do it. Then again, this USB stick may not be aimed at the public at large. |
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Brandon B
Joined: 14 Oct 2007
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dvdasacd
Joined: 18 Jul 2008
Posts: 24
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| Posted: Fri Nov 27, 2009 12:27 am Post subject: |
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| Brandon B wrote: | No question higher sampling frequency would be better.
I just wonder if there is any benefit at all to the bit depth alone. From what I have read, on the stereo remasters, they did bump them slightly to make them "hotter", although not to the horribly compressed levels many modern mixes are done. |
Actually, it is common consensus among hi-res believing audio engineers that the bitdepth is the main difference, and by a long shot. Noticed how there's actually quite a lof of 24-bit 48kHz DVD-As? And the standard in the movie industry (and thus blu-ray) is 24-bit 48kHz as well. |
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