The Complete U2 now available in iTunes Plus

[Crayon]

I was notified on another forum that The Complete U2 is now available in iTunes Plus (for those who have purchased it while it was available).

A little story of warning, should you be in the same situation as I were. I bought the upgrade for $45 and was surprised to find that it updated both my DRM'd copies, one from 2006 and another from 2004. It's a Good Thing I backed up the original DRM'd files so I still have both copies, which differ in some parts.

Are individual tracks available for upgrade in the Canadian iTunes store?

[Brad]

The Complete U2 is still filled with errors.

The first drumbeat of Sunday Bloody Sunday on War is still cut off. From The Last Night On Earth Single, Last Night On Earth (First Night In Hell Mix) is actually Pop Muzik and Numb (The Soul Assassins Mix) is one of the Happiness Is A Warm Gun mixes with the intro cut.  There were a couple of other mislabled tracks that I am forgetting.

Still, after five years you would think they could have sorted this out.

I do have one individual track available to upgrade in my (US) iTunes.  I can't recall if I repurchased that track separately or what.
   

[Brad]

Electrical Storm - First track is labeled as the William Orbit Radio Edit, but is actually the "Band Version" (which is already included).

I'll post more errors if I find them. I had, no kidding, just finished re-ripping all of my CD albums and singles to 256 kbps AAC this Friday morning.  I will probably keep the tracks that I've ripped myself in my iTunes library and only use The Complete U2 tracks to fill in the gaps. 

We had a Complete U2 bloopers thread back in 2004 as I recall. 

[Z000]

I will probably keep the tracks that I've ripped myself in my iTunes library and only use The Complete U2 tracks to fill in the gaps.

That's funny, I did it the other way around. But partly that has to do with the fact I didn't know at the time of purchase that the "Complete" U2 was anything but that.

[PekkaL]

The Complete U2 is still filled with errors.

The first drumbeat of Sunday Bloody Sunday on War is still cut off. From The Last Night On Earth Single, Last Night On Earth (First Night In Hell Mix) is actually Pop Muzik and Numb (The Soul Assassins Mix) is one of the Happiness Is A Warm Gun mixes with the intro cut.

Electrical Storm - First track is labeled as the William Orbit Radio Edit, but is actually the "Band Version" (which is already included).

Are all these errors associated with the US iTunes version of Complete U2? I have a version from the Finnish iTunes store, and no sign of any of these mistakes.. SBS is complete, First Night in Hell Mix and Soul Assassins Mix are what they are supposed to be, as is Electrical Storm.

[Brad]

These are all in the US iTunes Plus version that I downloaded on Friday. The error on SBS is definitely a holdover from 2004.  Someone had even emailed iTunes and were told that was the way the band intended it. 

The others I think might be new, but there were other mislabeled tracks back in 2004.  I remember having Paint It Black mislabeled as some other track from that single.

[Brad]

Link to the first bloopers thread:

http://www.u2wanderer.org/rtss/index.php?topic=116.0

[PekkaL]

I ordered my copy in the summer of 2005. It seems that all the errors had been fixed by then, Sunday Bloody Sunday is complete and even Discotheque on the Pop album is the 5:21 album version, not the single version. WTSHNN on the single is the Best of edit, but that seems to be the band's decision these days  .

[Z000]

I ordered my copy in the summer of 2005. It seems that all the errors had been fixed by then, Sunday Bloody Sunday is complete and even Discotheque on the Pop album is the 5:21 album version, not the single version. WTSHNN on the single is the Best of edit, but that seems to be the band's decision these days  .

Same here. Mine also didn't have Paint it Black, Pop Muzik, Happiness is a Warm Gun, or any of the cover songs that were b-sides in the 80s. In fact, I assumed they did that intentionally because they didn't have the rights to them. The only cover song included were the two remixes of Night and Day. Those b-sides were the main reason I started filling out the collection.

[Z000]

Does this iTunes Plus upgrade include any additional songs, or just improve the quality of the ones you already have? It'd be damn convenient.

[Brad]

Nope. Same 446 tracks as before.

I've also compared the waveforms, and the early singles etc. appear to be from the same masters as the previous iTunes release, not the more compressed CD remasters.

[Crayon]

For those interested, here's a marked up screen shot of the playlist I created a couple of years ago. It contains all the tracks that showed a difference in playing time. Current iTunes shows most of them as being the same length, which I take to mean that they really are the same version. In an earlier version many of them showed a difference of one second.

Notable differences are A Sort Of Homecoming, Sunday Bloody Sunday, Yahweh, Discothèque and Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses (The Temple Bar Mix). The others are probably the same versions with different amounts of silence at the end I'd guess. I haven't checked them out thoroughly.

This does not include versions that are the same in both releases, yet the wrong versions compared to the physical releases as mentioned elsewhere here in the forum.

[George]

I just noticed, 5 years too late, that the Lemon remixes Momo Beats and Momo's Reprise are actually the same track.  Momo Beats should be 4:25 in length, but both tracks are 4:09, just like Momo's Reprise should be.

[Z000]

I just noticed, 5 years too late, that the Lemon remixes Momo's Beats and Momo's Reprise are actually the same track.

Holy crap, you're right. I somehow convinced myself years ago that I heard a difference, but I just compared the waveforms and they're identical.

That's bunk. Now I have another vinyl to rip. Not to mention hunting it down and buying it in the first place. Shazbot.

I was similarly suspicious of the Monster Truck Mix and Lab Rat Mix of Staring At the Sun, but those waveforms appear to have some subtle differences. Not sure I could point out the difference when listening, though.

[PekkaL]

Damn it. Is it too late to demand we get the tracks that we paid for? If it says Momo's Beats, it should be Momo's Beats and nothing else..