New Live CD's - Brixton Academy Oct. 31 & Nov. 1

[TheBang]

I wanted to break this discussion out of the uwlive.com thread, because I think it deserves some more focus.

To recap:

1. New live CD's for the Oct. 31 and Nov. 1 Brixton shows are available for (pre-)order at underworldlive.com. £15 each. These will NOT be available for purchase at the show. Only on the website.
2. Those who order the CD's will be given MP3 download links within hours after the show.
3. The other purchase option for the 2 shows is WAV download which will be available on Nov. 10. £10 each.
4. Underworld will be handling distribution rather than Live Here Now (although I believe LHN is still producing the shows).
5. Old LHN shows from 2007-2008 are also available on underworldlive.com for £12 each.

Now, UW seems to have addressed a lot of the concerns (complaints?) that were voiced in the previous live cd thread. First of all, there is a download option now with the WAV's. Also, the added bonus of immediate MP3 downloads for those who purchased the CD's. Well done, I say.

Also, there's the distribution of the CD's being handled themselves (or rather, a fulfillment company), rather than the mess that Live Here Now left. I assume this is the same company that's been fulfilling orders for the rest of the merchandise on the underworldlive.com Shop, and I believe everyone that's ordered stuff so far (The Bells The Bells, etc.) has been happy with it? And it came much faster than the 3-20 weeks that LHN took?

Regarding the pricing, for the WAV download, I think it's fair. To compare, Pearl Jam was charging US$15 for FLAC shows during 2005-6 and Depeche Mode charged US$20 for lossy downloads of their 2006 shows. So I think Underworld's pricing falls fairly in there. For the CD's, £15 seems a tad high, but really nothing to complain about or make me not want to buy them. The older shows at £12 each now though are certainly more attractive. And I guess we have to remember the £15 shows come with the immediate MP3 gratification now too.

The only suggestion I have is regarding the WAV's. Pretty much all players support losslessly compressed audio these days. I don't see any reason why these shouldn't be offered in FLAC and Apple Lossless formats. If those 2 formats were offered, I think it would cover 99% of computers and mobile players, and everyone would save about 50% in disk space and bandwidth. And by offering those formats, they can also be distributed with metadata that WAV doesn't support, like Song and Artist tags and song and album artwork.

I have a feeling the Brixton shows will be something special. I'm jealous of those that get to go, and happy that those that can't go can buy the CD's.