Buying albums via iTunes, where's the info normally found on CD-inlay (LP-sleeve)

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Buying albums via iTunes, where's the info normally found on CD-inlay (LP-sleeve)

I just bought the magnificent new Kate Bush album thru iTunes.

As it is brandspanking new, i haven't had time to read up on it.

Don't know who the other performing artists are on some of the songs.

So what i duly miss on downloaded tunes is the info that would normally be on the cd inlay or for those that remember vinyl, on the most times pieces of art called sleeves. All the info you need, lyrics, artists, etc.

None of that in iTunes, while there should be ample room for that kind of info.

Whats up with that??

iTunes-OTHER, iOS 5.0.1, and PC

Posted on Dec 4, 2011 10:49 AM

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Answer 1

Dec 4, 2011 1:09 PM in response to hoek_nl

Many albums have what they call a "digital booklet" it's a PDF of the CD Insert. However, not all albums do. It's up to the artist/record company which ones do. Apparently, for whatever reason, Kate Bush and/or her record company decided not to bother with a digital booklet.

As for there being "ample room" not really. All that info would fit in the file sure, but it would increase the file size of every song, and that's not something every person cares about or wants.

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Answer 2

hoek_nl Author

Level 1

11 points

Dec 4, 2011 1:41 PM in response to AbsolutGrndZer0

First off, thanks for the reply.

Second, i've never seen a digital booklet, but i'll take your word for it, it makes sense.

How is that distributed then? Separate download?

Also most CD's don't have an inlay either i admit, just like not all sleeve's carried the lyrics.

But when i say ample room i mean mp3 tag's for instance ( i know itunes aren't mp3's ) can hold plenty info, but most players probably don't display much more then artis and songtitle when playing a song.

I just think that this is an area where progress isn't really an improvement, apart from losing on the artwork the old sleeves were, but that was already an issue at the intro of the otherwise perfect CD.

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Answer 3

Dec 4, 2011 1:59 PM in response to hoek_nl

Yeah, it's a PDF file kept in your iTunes directory, then you open it via iTunes (or manually if you want to) and it opens it in your default PDF browser.

Just a few albums with digital booklets are Lady Gaga's "Born this Way" Deluxe, Natalia KIlls "Perfectionist" Deluxe, and Pistol Annie's "**** on Heels"

Also, something new is the "iTunes LP" which is even better... It's a more interactive digital booklet opened by iTunes itself that in many ways is sometimes better than the CD insert.

An example of this is Avril Lavigne's "Goodbye Lullaby" Deluxe Edition. You are able to listen to songs via a nice interactive menu, look at a photo gallery of Avril, discography, and full song credits. No lyrics on this one, but some do.

Then even have movies with this feature! Like for example Red Riding Hood (Alternate Cut) gets you the alernate cut of the movie, plus ALL the special features you find only on the Blu-Ray copy of the movie (the only advantage to the Blu-Ray then is you get both versions of the movie). Another example is Bad Teacher (Unrated) and Sucker Punch (Extended Edition)

As for data in the files, yeah iTunes AACs can do that too, but again that increases file size (in fact, many people check an option to "remove album art" when syncing with their iPod to reduce file size)

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Answer 4

hoek_nl Author

Level 1

11 points

Dec 5, 2011 9:39 AM in response to AbsolutGrndZer0

hey thanks, yes just found the LP feature.

Will take some time to become mainstraim, but thats a great example of using the media to it's full extent.

Not available in dutchnstore yet, but not much available at all so i'll be keeping an eye on this.

thanks

On the size issue, on a 5MB song a few words of text will be adding up only couple k's, hardly noticeble, artwork might add more but doens't really have to be too big.

off course I too would like to have as many songs on me 16Gig iphone as possible ;)

anyhow, thanks again

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