Tuesday, June 19, 2007

iTunes Woes..


You see, I'm a nostalgic fool. I just won't let go of the past. And the past usually means it's filled with the music that kept me sane and alive. So I fuel myself with the past to get going for the present and hopefully the future. So having said that, I went on over to iTunes and just wanted to peek into what they called the Complete Depeche Mode Collection valued at $169.00. I suppose if I just got into DM and never bought one of their albums before, this would be a great way to catch up. But for most of us, we have them in so many forms and have shelled out more than enough for the albums and songs included in the collection. But the one thing that caught my eye was the Early Rare Live Recordings! See, at home, I have three French imported vinyls of DM 12" singles. On each of the flip sides are four live recordings from a concert. So if you had all three 12" singles, which are Love In Itself, Everything Counts and Get The Balance Right, you'd have almost an entire concert. I loved listening to these live recordings because they were done in its original form. They sounded so much warmer because you can actually tell that keys are being pressed and played in real-time rather than everything being on tape. It just sounded good. And there's this whole energy especially when they're doing Shout and Photographic. It reminds of the first time I went to see them.

I should tell you about the woes...

Well, as it turns out, only some of the songs are available for downloads at .99 each. Some selected tracks are labeled as Album Only purchases. So you'd have to spend the $169.00 in order to get the those tracks that you want. As it stands, only fanatics and fans like myself are going to go for those rare live recordings, I don't see why iTunes does not make them available. We already have all those albums on CDs finally and don't want to shell out more just to get the rare stuff. What a tease. And to think of the excitement I felt when I saw those tracks and then the let down when I saw the Album Only label. Well... I don't know if I'll ever download from them again. Bastards!

But why should I be surprised when everything counts in large amounts.

8 comments:

Chuang Shyue Chou said...

Those three limited edition German CDs! I can remember them. They were expensive and all. I recall seeing them last in a HMV store in the UK more than a decade ago.

Chuang Shyue Chou said...

Not German, French, ya. Heheh.

V said...

I should have grabbed those CDs when they first came out. But at the time I was saying things like "Eh - I have them on vinyl, why should I spend more money just to have them on CD. I'll just make tapes of them." I think I gave away the only tape I had of those tracks. I regret it and I regret not getting the CDs.

Chuang Shyue Chou said...

Same here same here! Especially after you put up the listing of the early live tracks, I realised that these were the real highlights of those CDs. I had not valued them thinking that they were just a bunch of unremarkable 'live' tracks.

V said...

Down the line, I think they become more valueble as the years go on.

Chuang Shyue Chou said...

Did you get the remastered early albums?

One or two of them seem to have the early live tracks. And I am excited about those.

V said...

I haven't gotten the remasters yet. The thing about those is that the extra tracks are on DVD. How can I make them portable?

A Broken Frame has only six of the live tracks, so there's 6 more not available.

willam said...

did anyone ever put a record player in a car? like before cassettes and shit? why don't they teach this kind of history in school? sheesh