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Grace Jones Disco blu-ray offers hi-res download bonus

By Paul Sinclair

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33

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SDE has discovered that if you buy the blu-ray audio version of the newly released Grace Jones Disco set (which gathers together the Portfolio, Fame and Muse albums plus extensive bonus tracks) the download code offers hi-res WAV files instead of the usual MP3s.

The ‘Pure Audio’ brand/initiative is a couple of years old now and music fans have consistently scratched their heads over why the record companies would offer low quality MP3s to an audience that clearly values hi-res music. This time around – seemingly as an experiment – the download code DOES offer hi-res WAV files and because this release is an unusually generous offering, with 43 tracks, the download comes in at a whopping 7.1 gigs of data!

At the time of writing this blu-ray audio is just £14.50 on Amazon UK. For that you are getting three Grace Jones albums and 21 bonus tracks (largely remixes) on physical hi-res AND a hi-res download. That’s an incredible deal worth highlighting.

Disco is out this week and is also available on three-CD and four-LP box sets – you can read more details here. In the meantime, leave a comment and let SDE know whether the hi-res download would make you more likely to buy future ‘pure audio’ physical products – you have an opportunity to influence future releases!

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33 Comments

33 thoughts on “Grace Jones Disco blu-ray offers hi-res download bonus”

  1. For anyone wishing to receive the ‘correct’ (ie. full song) version of “Comme Un Oiseau Qui S’Envole (Long Version)”, direct your request to: [email protected].
    Apparently, for CD purchases, they send out a replacement disc.
    For blu-ray audio, they send a WAV file of this song.
    This is irrespective of where you purchased it from. More here:
    http://www.amazon.co.uk/review/R3LIFSBCNDTO8/ref=cm_cd_pg_pg3?ie=UTF8&asin=B00RYGDNOS&cdForum=Fx2GTBU055LSOF1&cdPage=3&cdThread=Tx1HVHBF1DFR11B&store=music#wasThisHelpful

    1. Thanks, moog_man — recently purchased the 3-CD set from Amazon UK and noted as such in my note to Universal Music. Responded in less than 24 hours and the replacement disc is on its way!

  2. Pingback: Nirvana compilation comes to blu-ray audio and 2LP 45RPM vinyl | superdeluxeedition

  3. A quick update, fwiw, for anyone having difficulty extracting the audio files. I tried under Ubuntu (Linux variant) and using the command line unzip utility worked fine. Oddly the Archive Manager failed to cope with the unusual zip format.

  5. Have to say I agree with Bert. The zip file seems to have many corrupt files. At least under Windows 8.1 64-bit. I normally use 7-zip but even downloaded Winzip and tried the built-in ‘extract’ – all failed, although some tracks were seemingly extracted. Has anyone successfully extracted all the audio tracks? If so, how? ie What OS/tools/etc – thanks?

    I was very surprised to see WAV files rather than FLACs too, but that’s fine, I can live with a larger download if it works!

    In general, I’d be happy to buy Blu-Ray discs if a decent quality download was available. Not yet convinced this falls in that category though.

    On a related subject though, Amazon offer their “auto-rip” service, but when I bought Belouis Some’s Some People CD, the sound quality is awful with dropouts every 30s or so on some tracks, and it becomes difficult to listen to, however the auto-rip mp3s (apart from being mp3s) have no dropouts. How come? A decent version clearly does exist, but it couldn’t be released on CD???

  6. Oh joy, downloaded this 7+ GB zip last night, am now extracting it and constantly get “corrupt archive” alerts. Seriously, who made this, some amateur? One giant ZIP file with WAVs inside: come on! At least use FLAC to compress them. And offer SFV and MD5 files to check whether the files you’ve received aren’t corrupt.

    It’s astonishing how “The Scene” manages to invent strict rules, yet this legal service is amateur hour. This should have been a far more advanced service, with multiple formats available, and opportunities to check whether the files you downloaded were correct etc.

    Also, files are named “1. xxx”, 2. xxx” — come on! Once you go above 9 Windows incorrectly sorts your files. Was a leading zero that much effort? But I guess this was done by an Apple user, since the zip contains numerous superfluous “__MACOSX” folders and “.DS_STORE” files.

  7. Absolutely having a Hi-Res download with a purchased Blu-ray audio disc would influence me to buy future BD releases. Hope this becomes standard practice for the industry. :-)

  8. JUST GOT IT! (Blu-Ray) The sound is OUTSTANDING! I am so confounded that someone has finally realized these are masterpieces of the age! I have all the original vinyl so did not want to opt for the vinyl package. The sound really will blow you away. 1 Complaint: packaged in a DVD style case – not conducive for filing – but, hell – this is deluxe decree! BRILLIANT!

  9. I have to say that this Grace Jones HFPA release is indeed a step in the right direction for this fledgling format, and gives me hope that future releases will offer further interesting back-catalogue music, rather than the usual stand-alone “classic” albums we are usually presented with every time a new format slowly rolls out.

    In taking full advantage of the Blu-ray format’s capacity, collecting an entire era of Grace Jones career (with supplementary material), Universal should be applauded – & further encouraged – that this is what music collectors want & will persuade dedicated music lovers to purchase.

    I think the HFPA titles have thus far failed to meet expectations, because we know the vast capacity of Blu-ray means that box-set releases – such as ‘Disco’ – can easily be accommodated by the format; 228 minutes of uncompressed high quality audio, plus a similar quality download, is exactly the kind of value so many of us have been waiting years for.

    More than anything, what this new HFPA Grace Jones release best demonstrates to potential buyers, is that they CAN HAVE all the contemporary remixes (or live material, demos etc.) appended to their favourite albums, by their favourite artists, in a way which was never before possible across a single format – this is great news for any music lover.

    Imagine your favourite back-catalogue Pet Shop Boys, Depeche Mode or New Order album(s) with ALL the relevant remixes & other material appended, plus maybe a 5.1 mix thrown in as well! – now that might actually just turn around the decline of the physical format, if the major record companies can be bothered to take the time to properly master the material & handsomely present such generous content.

    The same idea holds true for any music genre – do you reckon classical music lovers would like their favourite 4-hour opera, or symphonic cycle on a HFPA single disc, instead spread across multiple CDs? Can you imagine The Beatles catalogue – in stereo &/or mono – suitably spread across 3-4 HFPA discs?; track-lists tailored to provide a lengthy (but not uncomfortably long) listening experience of the major musical periods – from their early Beatlemania years, through to the more experimenal Rubber Soul/Revolver/Sgt. Peppers/Magical Mystery Tour period, then ending with the diverse final albums; nicely presented in a large book format, fully documented & richly illustrated – such an item could put the stereo & mono boxes of some years ago to shame in quality & value.

    OK, maybe the major record companies wouldn’t let their valuable back-catalogue available too cheaply, not with such high quality presentation at least – but what about the neglected stuff that sits in the vaults? HFPA certainly provides a unique opportunity to re-release a lot of unavailable & rare music catalogue that would otherwise require upteen CDs; instead the consumer receives large volume high quality audio, in space-saving sets at (hopefully) great value with high quality download for portable listening. The potential is enormous & possibilites great…if Universal & the like are willing to make the effort & re-invest in the physical formats that could halt their decline.

    1. Even though the track we were told would be there, isn’t; my question is whether the substituted wrong track is actually a rarity in itself? It is not the same as the instrumental version as it also has the background singers similar to some of the instrumentals from the Portfolio CD.

      It’s not sticking in my craw because I’ve always felt Grace’s vocal on “Comme…” sounded muddy or muffled and this backing track is actually quite pleasant without her! The single vocal edit version of Grace singing is quite enough for me.

  14. BRING IT ON – I think it’s an excellent bit of news – keep in mind that (1) the quality of the original recording and (2) the MASTERING strategy chosen are FAR more important than the bitrate. There are CDs that sound far better than 24/96 or 24/192 files because the course material is better. Having said that, ignoring the advantage of 24 bit depth in audio is ludicrous. It clearly has more punch and potential for dynamics. Sampling frequency is highly debatable. For the Beatles (for an example) – give me any format you want, I still prefer the USB 24/44.1 key. Then again, bits are cheap (hard drives and storage) and download capacity has improved vastly. If something was remastered at, say, 24/192 why would you NOT want the same version as it was done?? It’s like being offered a painting and saying a good photo of it is fine… Sure, it is. But if you have a great DAC and stereo and speakers, why not? You can always use software like XLD to down convert it to any format you like. But Bluray audio releases are ridiculous when they offer a 128 kbps MP3 download – the French releases (Brel, Bruni etc..) give a full quality download. Personally I like DSD audio for remastered of analogue recordings, and if the recording was made in the digital domain as a PCM recording (e.g. 24/96) it should STAY that way – let me buy the SAME 24/96 files.

  18. I for one welcome this, and to be honest wish they’d do the same its Vinyl. My perfect purchase would be the vinyl copy with an HD download. The fact that each new release can have entirely inconsistent variables. Different sampling rates on different sites, different tracks baffles me. I can play all the formats, but would dearly love to have it all in files and get away from the discs.

  20. additionnaly the 2 Blu-ray audio of Grace Jones (nightclubbing and disco) contain all the extra tracks where most regular Blu-ray audio releases provide only the album athought bonuses do exist.

  21. I got my WAV downloads last night (after Universal had sorted the code redemption issue) and they are all 24/96 WAV files.

    As Paul says, the real issue here is Universal finally responding to the criticism of a baffling policy whereby they gave you MP3 downloads with a hi-res disc. So, this release is worthy of recognition for that fact, and also as one of, if not, the first HFPA releases that loads up multiple albums onto one disc and starts making the most of the capacity of Blu Ray.

    They’ve got a bit of a way to go to match the value for money of recent XTC & Yes Blu Ray releases, but it does appear to be headed in the right direction.

  22. @Paul,

    yes you are right, the opportunity to have better quality downloadable for this price is a very good thing! If it is necessary to own this big high res files..is another question. You can have the same quality for 1/3 of the storage place (cd quality wav files)…but if they only offer this so called big sized high res files only and mp3 then go for the high res files of course…or grab the cd to wav files at home…

    Sorry to go to a different direction…just every time I face this high res nonsense and how people mislead about this makes me angry about the companies created this whole thing…

  23. @Gyula Before we get too much into ‘theorems’ the point here is that you are getting some downloadable hi-res files to go with the hi-res files on the physical product. Whether you ‘believe’ in hi-res is irrelevant, Universal offering downloadable hi-res files to go with the physical product is significant. Many people pay the equivalent of £14 JUST for the downloads, so if you think of it like that you’re getting physical product for free.

    These blu-ray audios are minimum 96/24 and the downloads will likely be the source files used for the blu-ray.

  24. As things stand, a Blu-ray disc, no matter how good the contents, will be something I reach for when I’m actually settled in to listen to something at home – but secondary to a CD, which doesn’t require menu navigation and the like. Simply put, a blu-ray doesn’t serve me much good on the road or in the office. Now, if I bought an audio blu-ray and got access to the contents in hi-res or uncompressed digital format which I could throw onto an iPod or the like, it would most definitely influence my decision on which format to buy favorably. It’s (potentially) a “best of all worlds” setup where I get both a version I can take it on the road with me and also a high quality version to fire up as the mood strikes at home.

    So, in short, if this became standard operating procedure, I would definitely welcome it.

  25. @Gyula

    1x CD = 740 Meg (average)
    so, 3x CDs = 2.22 Gig

    7.2 Gig would be about 3.3 times greater than your preferred CD quality.

    This of course does not address the source issue.

    1. The size of a cd is yes 760 Meg. the great 7.2 gig is unnecessary as the quality is not going to be any better then the 2.2 Gig (3x cd) quality.

      The additional data is because of the sampled frequencies you cannot hear or interpret with your ears in any ways…just there…for nothing…pls read the theorem.

      if you want I can send you some videos to understand how this theorem and sampling works and how the D/A and a/D conversion is done. Everything depends on the master quality how it was done and then put it on a coding of a cd is more then what you need. 16bit/44,1 Khz. The rest is just hype…

  26. If hi-res means some uncompressed wav files CD quality then yes, if hi-res means the nonsense 24bit/192kHz coding or so with large nonsense files then NO!

    This whole hi-res audio thing is the fault of simply introducing compressed music and making it mixed up with some stupid ideas for audio decoding and audio sampling which is a scientific fact not some misleading superstitious thing.

    There is no high res audio only compressed and uncompressed music. And the Nyquist–Shannon sampling theorem.

    that is all.

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