The Beatles catalog being released on limited edition USB stick

You know what's kind of like online digital distribution, and yet not at all like that? Selling the entire re-mastered Beatles catalog on a USB drive that slots into a fake apple. The fine folks at Apple Corps Ltd. and EMI Music have teamed up to build a limited edition run of 30,000 USB apples to be sold on December 7 in the UK and December 8 in freedom-loving America. Included on the 16GB drive are the 14 stereo titles in FLAC 44.1 Khz 24-bit, in addition to 320 Kbps MP3s and a whole digital stack of special materials like liner notes and mini-documentary films, all for the low, low price of $279.99. The drive is up for pre-order as of now, which means you could be a mere month away from plugging this drive into your computer, dragging the files into your iTunes library and then pretending that you bought them online in some sort of forward-looking content distribution model.

[wesley anthony Posted Nov 4th 2009 2:25AM]

I wish I could afford it, because I think it's gorgeous and unique

[HydrogenSnake Posted Nov 4th 2009 3:09AM]

love how the put .flac on the Flashdrive!!! Well worth the money i'd say.

[benz145 Posted Nov 4th 2009 4:13AM]

"...dragging the files into your iTunes library and then pretending that iTunes supports FLAC."

Fixed.

[Endadget Posted Nov 4th 2009 5:34AM]

It doesn't support FLAC??
Wow.
Well, not so surprising, actually. I guess it's Apple's corporate policy of forcing you to buy from their store. Same story with MS and Zune (which supports like 3 formats in total)...

[benz145 Posted Nov 4th 2009 5:50AM]

As is Apple's desire to lock everyone into their software and hardware, their come up with their own proprietary format called ALAC (Apple Lossless Audio Codec). At least they have a lossless codec that is support by iTunes and their iPods, but it sucks because if you want to start ripping all of your music into ALAC what will happen down the road when you want to use another software media player or DAP? You are stuck with Apple unless you want to convert your entire ALAC library. I hate Apple for things like this.

[(Unverified) Posted Nov 4th 2009 7:18AM]

wait, since when did iTunes support FLAC?

[magallanes Posted Nov 4th 2009 7:51AM]

Lossless is fine but to sell a remastered version is meh.

[Gungel Posted Nov 4th 2009 7:57AM]

@Joe H, What does that have to do with downloading the songs? As long as they are available they are mine.

[Diesel1313 Posted Nov 4th 2009 9:40AM]

This is ridiculous: I mean come one lets flogg that dead horse jsut one mroe tiem shall we.

You bought it ON RECORD, YOU BOUGHT IT ON CD, shit you even got it when it came out on itunes.

I reco nnext they will have the beatles suppository, thts right stick it up your backside and watch ur asssholeeeeeeeeeeeeeee sing to HEY JUDE !!!!!

Boringggggggg,

[(Unverified) Posted Nov 4th 2009 11:54AM]

I just bought it! All the albums, and extras? Sure why not.
You can justify all you want about it being a waste of time, money, space, plastic, etc.
I have always wanted the catalog, and this is perfect for me! Yeah, it's a bit steep, but really, probably only about $50 bucks more than what would be spent buying each item individually. Not too mention I do not have 14 discs that can be lost stolen, broken, scratched, etc.

:-) yay!

[Jesse Dula Posted Nov 4th 2009 1:28PM]

Yay!! No all I have to do is steal that little flash drive from your mail box on arrival day, and I'll have it all too!! Double yay!!

[WmPenn Posted Nov 7th 2009 10:58AM]

"Not too mention I do not have 14 discs that can be lost stolen, broken, scratched, etc. :-) yay!" - Correct, now you have one tiny flash drive that can be easily lost, stolen, broken etc. ;-) yay! wait that's an advantage?!

[(Unverified) Posted Nov 4th 2009 3:37PM]

Criminy, I was just talking about this yesterday! Distributing entire archival catalogs via flash makes perfect sense..and I'm not completely against the novelty base for the drive, either. Gimme everything KISS ever did mounted on one of Gene's platform shoes!

[(Unverified) Posted Nov 4th 2009 3:39PM]

..but not at such a high price. That's a deal-breaker.

[(Unverified) Posted Nov 4th 2009 3:38PM]

..although I wouldn't want it at prices that high.

[simbr Posted Nov 4th 2009 6:57PM]

Heaven forbid you buy 14 albums on a flash drive for around the price of 14 albums and a flash drive.

[(Unverified) Posted Nov 5th 2009 1:07AM]

Amazon is now taking pre-orders for it at $238.99 and is delivering it on release day.
I ordered mine!

[ran Posted Nov 5th 2009 3:45AM]

I can't wait for someone's friend to come over, "borrow" a flash drive and overwriting the music.

[Kerensky97 Posted Nov 5th 2009 3:25PM]

Boo. Even if I wanted to pay that much for a digital copy instead of actual CDs I'd want the mono versions not the stereo-ified versions.

[WmPenn Posted Nov 7th 2009 10:38AM]

This would be a lot cooler if the apple was also a PMP. As it is it's a crapgadget...who wants a USB drive shaped like that hanging out of their stuff?

[WmPenn Posted Nov 7th 2009 10:49AM]

OK, second thought. The apple should be a pop open box set with an ultra compact flash drive storage slot inside + all the other cool stuff inside that a box set comes with! To open it you twist it and you get two halves that look like a cut apple on the inside, like you used to see on the label of Apple Records Beatles albums, and the goodies are inside the halves. This apple stemmed flash drive is just stupid and impractical. Whoever designed it needs to be fired.