Computers & Gadgets

The Beatles are one of very few groups who have not made their music available for online download. I’m pretty sure they are the only band that has sold millions of albums that isn’t included on iTunes. When the announcement was made that The Beatles music was going to come out in mp3 format most folks probably assumed that this meant that they were going to be sold as downloads but that is not true, instead The Beatles USB will contain The Beatles entire 1960s stereo catalog.

The Beatles USB flash drive includes the remastered Beatles in Stereo box set except obviously in a far different form than 16 CDs and 1 DVD. This Beatles USB memory stick that you can hold in the palm of your hand includes all of the same music and all of the same visual elements as that stereo box set.

In actuality it includes all of the remastered Beatles stereo tracks in the box set two times because it holds both 320kbps mp3s and 24bit FLACs. I am positive you are familiar 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? Essentially these FLAC files are considered to be “lossless” and this means there is not a loss of sound quality like with mp3s or other “lossy” formats. And since these FLAC files are 24 bit instead of the 16 bit files that are contained on CDs, they are of better sound quality than compact discs.

This means that The Beatles USB memory stick now contains the highest quality versions of The Beatles remasters! That might change if there is a DVD or Blu-Ray release in the works but for now this is the audiophile holy grail as far as The Beatles remasters.

How about the mono mixes? Unfortunately they are not contained on this USB memory stick. You still have to buy The Beatles Remastered Mono Box Set to hear their music in mono.