The Beatles USB – MP3s & FLACs
One of the few bands not to release their music as mp3 downloads are The Beatles. I’m pretty sure they are the only band that has sold millions of albums that isn’t included on iTunes. When it was announced that The Beatles were finally releasing their music digitally on December 8 of 2009 most people probably guessed that it meant that they were going to be sold as downloads but that is not the case, instead they have gone another way: The Beatles USB Flash Drive.
The Beatles USB Stick includes The Beatles in Stereo Box Set except of course in a much different form than 16 CDs and 1 DVD. This one USB stick that you can easily hold in the palm of your hand includes all of the same elements as that stereo box set.
The USB contains all of the remastered Beatles stereo tracks in that box set two times because it has both 320kbps mp3s and 24bit FLAC files. I am positive you have experience with mp3s (and 320 mp3s are the highest quality that mp3s come in) but what about the 24bit FLAC files, what are they all about? Simply put FLAC files are “lossless” and this means there is not a loss of sound quality like with mp3s or other “lossy” formats. And since they are 24 bit instead of the 16 bit files that are on compact discs, they are of higher quality than CD.
What this means is that The Beatles USB memory stick now contains the best quality version of The Beatles stereo remasters available! Of course, that may change in the future if they decide to release these remasters on Blu-Ray or DVD but at the moment this is the audiophile holy grail as far as The Beatles music in stereo.
What about the original mono mixes? They are not included on this USB memory stick. You still must buy The Beatles in Mono Box Set to listen to the mono mixes.
