Whats Being Heard Online

The Beatles are one of very few groups who have not made their music available for online download. Actually, I don’t think any other platinum selling band is still holding out on digital downloads. When the announcement was made that The Beatles music was going to come out in mp3 format most fans just assumed that it meant that they were going to be sold as downloads but that is not the case, instead The Beatles USB memory stick will be making it’s way into many Christmas stockings.

The Beatles USB stick contains what amounts to the Beatles in Stereo Box Set except clearly in a far different form than DVD and 16 CDs included in the box set. This one USB memory stick that you can hold in your hand contains all of the same elements as the much larger box set.

The USB contains all of the Beatles stereo remasters in the box set two times because it holds 320kbps mp3s and 44.1kHz/24bit FLAC files. I am certain you are familiar with mp3s (and 320 mp3s are the highest quality that mp3s come in) but what about the 24bit FLAC files, what what is FLAC? Essentially FLAC files are considered to be “lossless” and this means there is no loss in sound quality like there is with mp3s. And because these particular FLACs are actually 24bit instead of the 16 bit files that are included on CD, they are of higher quality than CD.

What this means is that The Beatles USB memory stick contains the best quality versions of The Beatles stereo remasters! This might change in the future if they decide to release these remasters on Blu-Ray or DVD but for now this is the “must have” for audiophiles as far as The Beatles remasters.

How about the mono mixes? Unfortunately these are not included on this USB flash drive. You still have to get The Beatles in Mono Box Set to hear their music in mono.