The Beatles 2009 Remasters
The Beatles timeless albums were initially remastered digitally and released on CD in the late’80s at that time mastering for CD was a relatively new art and since then a lot has been learned about how to master more effectively but even more important is all of the many technological advances during that time.
All of the movements forward in technology and all of the knowledge learned of how to most effectively create digital remasters have been put to very good use with the Beatles remasters of 2009. On September 9 The Beatles released both The Beatles Stereo Box Set and The Beatles in Mono. And both box sets sound wonderful. If you’ve yet to hear ‘em, I recommend you get your hands on The Beatles remasters as soon as you can.
Which kind of Beatles remastered should a fan purchase? Well for me the answer was definitely “all of them” but if you can only have you will most likely want to go with the Beatles in Stereo since it contains all thirteen of their studio albums and most fans really do prefer listening to the stereo mixes in comparison to the mono mixes.
The Beatles Mono Box Set is aimed at hardcore Beatles fans who want to hear all of the differences between the stereo & mono mixes (and with some songs they are very different from each other) and for fans who want to hear the Fab Four how they originally heard them (this obviously applies to the original fans who were around for The Beatles in the flesh back in the 60s.)
On December 8th there will be a 3rd choice: The Beatles USB Memory Stick. This USB stick contains the Beatles entire stereo remastered box set in a little stick that fits in the palm of my hand. How cool is that? It actually contains all of their albums in 2 formats; better than CD quality 24bit FLAC and 320kbps mp3s.
That “better than CD quality” part is what will excite a good amount of audiophiles but for most listeners it is the mp3s that will that’ll be added to the iPod.
Harold Laurence Quesenberry recommends this Beatles Store for all of your Beatles shopping needs. There’s plenty of other Beatles stuff available besides The Beatles Mono & Stereo Remastered Box Sets.