The Beatles USB (Beatles MP3s & Audiophile FLAC Files)

For years Beatles fans have been waiting for The Beatles albums to be released digitally. There have been countless rumors over the last few years that their catalog would be released as MP3s which could be downloaded on ITunes and other digital music retailers (such as AmazonMP3.)

And as of the writing of this hub (November 2009) that has still not happened. But what is happening is the release of a limited edition Beatles USB which is a digital version of The Beatles in Stereo Box Set (it includes everything that's in that box set, except in a digital format.)

Probably the main draw for most fans are the 320kbps MP3 versions of all 13 of The Beatles studio albums along with the Past Masters compilation (which includes all of the songs that were released from 1962 through 1970 that were not included on those studio albums.)

These MP3s will be easy to move from the USB stick to your computer (whether it's PC or Mac) and to your mp3 player (whether it's an iPod, a Zune, or any other brand.)

320kbps is the highest possible quality for MP3s, this is much higher than the quality sold at ITunes and also higher than the 256kbps files that are usually sold at AmazonMP3.

For serious Beatles fans/audiophiles the big draw are the 24bit FLAC versions of the remastered stereo mixes. These will be the highest quality versions of The Beatles official stereo catalog available anywhere.

The Beatles in FLAC is exciting to audiophiles because CDs are only 16bit while the digital mastering was done in 24bit (as is the standard today.) This means that when the music is put on CD it is actually compressed and some of the sound quality is lost. With these 24bit files, more of that sound quality is saved. Although since these are 44.1Khz files and not 96Khz, not all of it is saved. Still, these are the highest quality versions of The Beatles music now available.)