U2 covers album

[Aaron]

(Ǎhk-to͝ong Bāy-Bi) is now available in iTunes in many regions, for those who have decided they don't need a physical CD.  :-)

[slaneman]

And it's now a charity release

http://www.concern.net/news-blogs/concern-blog/u2-covers-album-help-east-africa

[dagobah]

Well, there it is.  $7.99 on the iTunes Store (US).  I thought maybe this was a joke.  If I knew this was going to available on iTunes, I would not have bought it for $15+ from U2.com/fanfire.com

I don't need a physical CD.  I wonder if I can cancel my order at U2.com/fanfire.com

[dagobah]

I called 800-615-1324 (fanfire.com) and canceled my October 24 online order for the Q Magazine (with the U2 covers CD).  It was easier than I thought it would be.  They told me it was on back-order and that there was no problem with canceling the order.

It's weird.  After all this anxiety about whether or not I would ever have affordable access to the tracks on the covers album . . . . . and now it's available on iTunes for $7.99!!!  I don't mind that it's ALBUM ONLY.  The physical CD just isn't important to me.

As far as this album being available on iTunes in certain countries only, I wonder how they kept this info a secret.  If we had known, some of us wouldn't have been so worried about . . . . . . how the hell we were going to acquire a copy of the Q Magazine with the physical CD.

[morgan1098]

If we had known, some of us wouldn't have been so worried about . . . . . . how the hell we were going to acquire a copy of the Q Magazine with the physical CD.

Even if I had known about this, I still would have been worried about how the hell I was going to acquire a copy of the magazine/cd.    I collect all of my U2 in CD form unless there's absolutely no other option available.  That said, I'm glad you were able to cancel your order and I'm glad the album is available in both formats.

That said, my Q order from U2.com is also on backorder.  I was told a week ago that they should have more copies available "in 1 to 4 weeks."  I'm not super-optimistic that I'll ever receive this.  Maybe I'll have to settle for the iTunes version as well!

[Aaron]

As far as this album being available on iTunes in certain countries only, I wonder how they kept this info a secret.  If we had known, some of us wouldn't have been so worried about . . . . . . how the hell we were going to acquire a copy of the Q Magazine with the physical CD.

It wasn't kept a secret.  It wasn't available in iTunes until November 14/15th.  They just added it.  Before Monday it was not available in iTunes period.

[morgan1098]

As far as this album being available on iTunes in certain countries only, I wonder how they kept this info a secret.  If we had known, some of us wouldn't have been so worried about . . . . . . how the hell we were going to acquire a copy of the Q Magazine with the physical CD.

It wasn't kept a secret.  It wasn't available in iTunes until November 14/15th.  They just added it.  Before Monday it was not available in iTunes period.

I think he meant the fact that when this project was first announced, there was no indication that it would be available on iTunes later down the line.  Indeed, there was no indication that this would appear on iTunes until this week.  I don't think that usually happens with Q magazine cover CDs.  It sort of eliminates the "exclusive" idea, although in this case I guess the physical CD is still a Q "exclusive."

[Carl]

I'm wondering if iTunes wasn't an afterthought - oh hey, a ton of people are interested in it and distribution can't handle things. Let's toss it online!

[dagobah]

morgan1098:
Yes, that's what I meant.

I've had a chance to listen to the U2 covers album twice.  So far, I'm impressed.  And I got to thinking about where in my iTunes library would I put these songs.  Most people will probably put this album into the U2 section.  But the problem with that is . . . . . this music is not being played by U2.  All the other cover songs in my iTunes library are with the musician who is doing the cover.  The only track from the U2 covers album I would put into the U2 section would be the Jacques Lu Cont Mix of Even Better Than The Real Thing.  The rest would be split up and put with the musician who did the cover.  But I'm currently thinking about changing that.  I think I will put all the covers in my iTunes library together.  For example, here is how I might categorize the Info Screen for the Depeche Mode cover of the U2 track So Cruel
The "Track" category would obviously be So Cruel
The "Artist" category would be Covers
The "Album" category might be Depeche Mode covers U2
I admit, it's an unusual way to categorize, but the "Artist" category is the main category I refer to in my iTunes library . . . . and so that's why I'm thinking of using the word Covers for it.  My iTunes library lists only 40 Artists because many are grouped into categories such as Hip Hop, Jazz, R&B/Soul, 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, etc.

The only other info I would put into the track's Info Screen would be the name of the release that the cover came from.  I would put that info in the "Comments" category.  I wouldn't even number the cover songs.  iTunes would just alphabetize the cover songs within the "Artist" category Covers since I'm not numbering the tracks.  I still have to find all these other cover songs in my iTunes library.  A few of the cover songs will be from Peter Gabriel's cover album Scratch My Back, which means those songs would obviously be removed from the "Artist" category Peter Gabriel.  I'm looking forward to seeing how many cover songs are actually in my iTunes library.

It's just an idea at this point.

[Z000]

I usually list them by the cover artists under Artist, but put the band being covered under Album Artist. I've also played with putting things in the Composer field if I have no other place that works.

[dagobah]

Oh yeah, I forgot about the "Composer" category.  After looking for cover songs in my iTunes library, the "Composer" category on the Info Screen is what clues me in that the track is a cover.  It always has people's names rather than the name of the band.

Well, I found more cover songs in my iTunes library than I thought I would find.  And it's possible I didn't even find them all.  If I include the U2/Achtung Baby covers, it looks like I have between 60 and 70 cover songs.  And it's interesting, some cover songs are more associated (in my mind) with the artist doing the cover rather than the artist who wrote the original song.  Examples include:
- Led Zeppelin covers Willie Dixon/L.B. Lenoir [You Shook Me]
- Led Zeppelin covers Willie Dixon [I Can't Quit You Baby]
- The Doors cover Willie Dixon [Back Door Man]
- Jimi Hendrix Experience covers Billy Roberts [Hey Joe]
- Jimi Hendrix Experience covers Bob Dylan [All Along The Watchtower]
- Pearl Jam covers Buzz Cason/Tony Moon [Soldier Of Love (Lay Down Your Arms)]
- Rage Against The Machine covers Bruce Springsteen [The Ghost Of Tom Joad]

After thinking about this situation, I don't think I'm going to create a Covers category in my iTunes library.  But I found this "cover song/iTunes organization" project interesting.

Concerning the Achtung Baby covers album, I still haven't decided if I'm going to keep it with the U2 section or split it up.  What's weird is . . . . I don't have any music from most of the musicians doing these Achtung Baby covers.  Depeche Mode and Nine Inch Nails are the only ones.  Sorry for going off-topic, but I must admit, the Achtung Baby covers album is all at fault.

[Brad]

For compilation albums, I always list the performing artist under Artist and "Various Artists" for Album Artist; and I tic the "Part of a Compilation" box under options. That keeps all of the files in a single folder.

I just make playlists when I want to group tracks together in certain ways.

[George]

For compilations, I always tick the box, "Part of a compilation".  I also always keep the artist tag as the name of the actual performer.

For tribute albums, like in this case, I use the "album artist" tag for the artist for whom the tribute is for (in this case, U2).  So for the "We're A Happy Family" compilation, each track has a different artist, but all tracks have the album artist "The Ramones".  This way all the tracks appear together as an album under the album artist (The Ramones) and the individual tracks also appear with their respective artists, so long as you have at least one other non-compilation track by that artist.  So Beat On The Brat and Havana Affair both appear under U2 and Red Hot Chili Peppers, respectively, as well as under The Ramones, but Marilyn Manson's "The KKK Took My Baby Away" only appears under The Ramones but not under Marilyn Manson (as I don't own any of his stuff).

Clear? 

[slaneman]

According to the iTunes digital booklet, 'Who's Gonna Ride' by Garbage contains samples from U2's Zoo Station and Pride.

[George]

According to the iTunes digital booklet, 'Who's Gonna Ride' by Garbage contains samples from U2's Zoo Station and Pride.

Is that information not in the regular insert with the CD?