I've bought a few albums from Amazon and iTunes, but until now I've generally preferred getting physical media and a booklet. I planned on driving to my local music store Tuesday before work to buy The Final Frontier, but for some reason I woke up at 2:00 AM Tuesday with insomnia, so I started looking for instant gratification online:
Amazon: $10 for MP3s with a digital booklet
iTunes: $10 for AACs with a digital booklet
iTunes LP (iTLP): $12 for AACs, music video, documentary, artwork, etc
Since I buy iTunes gift cards when they're buy-3-get-1-free (as gifts and for iOS apps), iTLP was effectively 25% off, making it $9. I didn't know much about iTLP, but I figured I'd try it out. My review:
Pros:
Cons:
Overall, I'm pleased with it. The artwork is the real kicker. When I switched to CD 20 years ago, I appreciated not having to deal with tiny booklets folded 10 times and crammed into cassette cases. It still wasn't as good as the large artwork that came with records, but I was happy with the trade-off between the convenience of a CD vs an LP. Now we've come full circle… iTLP provides the convenience of digital downloads and also more detailed artwork and features than a CD. From now on, if the same music is available at the same price on both CD and iTLP, I'll choose iTLP.
Amazon: $10 for MP3s with a digital booklet
iTunes: $10 for AACs with a digital booklet
iTunes LP (iTLP): $12 for AACs, music video, documentary, artwork, etc
Since I buy iTunes gift cards when they're buy-3-get-1-free (as gifts and for iOS apps), iTLP was effectively 25% off, making it $9. I didn't know much about iTLP, but I figured I'd try it out. My review:
Pros:
- You get a menu for navigating through everything. Kind of like what many DVDs provide except this is quick and convenient instead of cumbersome and laggy.
- High resolution artwork.
- Lyrics. Some digital downloads include this, but many still don't.
- Bonus videos.
- Photo gallery.
- Slideshow during music playback.
- It's an open spec, so I can create my own iTLPs.
- I usually rip/compress my CDs to play on my computer, phone, etc, and this saves me the trouble.
Cons:
- It requires a computer to use (and specifically iTunes to use as intended). A partial solution is that a web browser (and thus tablet) will work if you extract the itlp files (it's all HTML, CSS, and js). The DVD-esque GUI won't launch the music and videos, but it shows the gallery and lyrics.
- There's no physical copy... backup your hdd!
Overall, I'm pleased with it. The artwork is the real kicker. When I switched to CD 20 years ago, I appreciated not having to deal with tiny booklets folded 10 times and crammed into cassette cases. It still wasn't as good as the large artwork that came with records, but I was happy with the trade-off between the convenience of a CD vs an LP. Now we've come full circle… iTLP provides the convenience of digital downloads and also more detailed artwork and features than a CD. From now on, if the same music is available at the same price on both CD and iTLP, I'll choose iTLP.