Broadband Required

A month or so ago, I watched the Apple iPod photo unveiling, complete with Bono and The Edge from U2. They were there, promoting their new U2 iPod (which, is pretty cool looking, if it is only a color job for 50 bucks). Mentioned, at the event, was the release of an iTunes Music Store exclusive: The Complete U2. That’s right… everything they’ve ever recorded, including their new album and some stuff they’ve never released before. All the singles. All the versions of the singles, at that. All the albums. Even the “Best of…” CDs. Amazing.

But, with all things, there is a catch…

Ringing in at 446 songs, this “digital box set” is no lightweight, in price or size. At $150 (with $50 off if you buy the U2 iPod), it is a good deal for the mass amount of music you get… but $150 is still $150. Luckily, though, you can still buy the tracks individually—you just lose out on the price drop. Size-wise, 446 tracks is staggering. If the average 3-4 minute iTMS song is about 4MB, then The Complete U2 would be at very least over 1700MB… you read correctly: 1.7GB, at very least. And I see a number of 6-10 minute songs in there, so we could easily be looking at 2GB. That’s half of an iPod mini! Not that I wouldn’t want all that U2 (believe me, I’ll take it), but when the site says “Broadband Required” for the album, they aren’t kidding…

So… who wants to get me a $150 iTMS Gift Certificate?