Paul McCartney / RAM: a guide to digital downloads and bonus tracks
If you choose to buy Paul and Linda McCartney‘s new Ram reissue from paulmccartney.com you get two digital bonus audio tracks not featured on any of the physical formats (including the deluxe box). Eat At Home / Smile Away (Live in Groningen 1972) is a fantastic 8 minute live medley of the two Ram tracks that is as enjoyable as anything on the eight-track bonus disc that comes with the special and deluxe box editions. Uncle Albert Jam is a bit of studio tomfoolery that will raise a smile or two. Nice to hear, but can immediately be tagged ‘inessential’.
The good news is that these two digital bonus tracks are offered with EVERY variation of purchase from Macca’s site but there are other ways to get hold of them as you will see below in our guide to Ram digital downloads:
EXCLUSIVE to paulmccartney.com
- 1. Purchase standard one-disc RAM CD and you get:
12 track album digital download + 2 digital bonus tracks (Eat At Home / Smile Away (Live in Groningen 1972) and Uncle Albert Jam). FLAC or MP3 or Apple Lossless format.
- 2. Purchase two-disc special edition RAM CD and you get:
12 track album digital download + 8 track ‘bonus audio’ digital download + 2 digital bonus tracks (Eat At Home / Smile Away (Live in Groningen 1972) and Uncle Albert Jam). FLAC or MP3 or Apple Lossless format.
- 3. Purchase five-disc deluxe box edition of RAM and you get:
12 track album digital download + 8 track ‘bonus audio’ digital download + 2 digital bonus tracks (Eat At Home / Smile Away (Live in Groningen 1972) and Uncle Albert Jam). FLAC or MP3 or Apple Lossless format. In addition you get five digital videos: 3 Legs Video, Heart Of The Country Video and Eat At Home (On Tour) video in MPEG-4 format (.m4v) and Hey Diddle video and Ramming documentary in Quicktime (.mov) format. You do NOT get the mono album or Thrillington as a digital download.
- 4. You can purchase the deluxe as a purely digital package (see above) without the physical media for £15.99 (or local currency equivalent).
- 5. Purchase RAM Mono Vinyl and you get:
STEREO 12 track album digital download + 2 digital bonus tracks (Eat At Home / Smile Away (Live in Groningen 1972) and Uncle Albert Jam). FLAC or MP3 or Apple Lossless format. The mono album is NOT available as a digital download.
- 6. Purchase RAM Stereo Vinyl and you get:12 track album digital download + 8 track ‘bonus audio’ digital download + 2 digital bonus tracks (Eat At Home / Smile Away (Live in Groningen 1972) and Uncle Albert Jam). FLAC or MP3 or Apple Lossless format.
- 7. Purchase Hi-Res Digital bundle and you get:
12 track album digital download + 8 track ‘bonus audio’ digital download + 2 digital bonus tracks (Eat At Home / Smile Away (Live in Groningen 1972) and Uncle Albert Jam). You can choose either ‘unlimited’ or ‘limited’ WAV files (or both, if you pay more)
iTunes Options
- RAM album in digital AAC format + 2 digital bonus tracks (14 tracks)
- RAM 2CD special in digital AAC format + 2 digital bonus tracks (22 tracks)
- Digital bonus tracks also available separately!
Important!
If you buy the Deluxe Box Set from ANY retailer you get option 7 (above) as part of the deal. In other words ALL the album tracks, ALL the bonus audio AND the two bonus tracks (Eat At Home / Smile Away (Live in Groningen 1972) and Uncle Albert Jam) as BOTH unlimited and limited hi-res WAV files. (44 WAVs in total). You also get digital premium membership to paulmccartney.com for a year.
9 Comments
9 thoughts on “Paul McCartney / RAM: a guide to digital downloads and bonus tracks”
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Hi, I bought the Deluxe Edition Box with the code card but cannot figure out how to actually get the downloads. A lot of people are asking the same question at paulmccartney.com. I was able to get the McCartney II downloads automatically upon entering the code.
I’m sorry, I’m not sure I understand still. I purchased the Deluxe Edition Box from Amazon Canada. The bonus tracks weren’t an option when I ordered. Do I get them if I activate the digital download code from the card included in the box?
Yes, exactly right, they come as part of the hi-res downloads via code in the box.
I’m opting for the 2-disc version, so it’s nice to know I’ll be able to pick up the 2 extra bonus tracks from iTunes.
Thanks for this! I’m awaiting my deluxe five-disc box from Amazon US and haven’t been sure whether it’s going to include the bonus downloads of the Groningen medley & Uncle Albert Jam, so you’ve clarified that perfectly.
Helpful article. What’s the difference between the ‘limited’ and ‘umlimited’ downloads?
‘limited’ is comparable in volume to the CD except it’s higher resolution (more detail etc.) Whereas ‘Unlimited’ will sound quieter but retains and reflects the full dynamic range of what is on the actual master tape.
It’s unfortunate that the downloads with this release (at least, with the deluxe box) do not include a digital booklet along with the download tracks. The previous releases in this series all included digital booklets along with the downloads, which I enjoy having on my iPad.
Agreed. MPL’s support for lossless & high-res downloads have been quite superb so far, just a shame that Ram hasn’t included the liner notes for the deluxe CD inlay book as per BOTR, McC and McC II. Full marks on every other front though – the Apple Lossless RAM and bonus tracks are fantastic.