Which High Res releases are worth buying?

It's nice to see this thread alive again.

I wish it could sustain a pulse, but that's up to Audiogon members. ;-)

I have recently discovered the following downloads which I think are better
than Red book: Chet Baker's "Baker's Holiday" 24/192, Norah
Jones' "Feels like Home" 24/192 and Joni Mitchell's "The
Hissing of Summer Lawns" 24/192.

I like Bob Marley's Legend in 24/192 but actually prefer the original Island
mix and vibe....wish they'd used that for the remaster. On the download mix
there is actually a guitar fill missing from the opening track that you can
clearly hear on the Island CD. Weird.

In spite of the tempest in a teapot over source material, I actually prefer
Beck's Morning Phase in 24/96 over the CD...but only by a narrow margin.

I kind of struggle with the pricing of High Res downloads. If it is new material the engineer selects the bit rate and sample rate with two clicks of the mouse. The only difference is more storage space for the recording vs. standard 16-bit/44.1kHz. Wouldn't you want to offer it at a redbook price to attract more users?

Goose,

I completely agree and share your incredulity with respect to the price of downloads. I only download sure bets as a result.

We seem to be stuck in this tug of war between people who think music is free (ridiculous and greedy) and music distributors who gouge wherever and whenever they can (shortsighted and greedy)

My only solution is speak up about it and only buy the very best at the lowest prices available. I wouldn't blame anyone for boycotting the whole affair. Perhaps Neil Young's Pono adventure will bring prices down to CD level, but I ain't holding my breath.

Vhiner, what really gets me is there is a real opportunity to drawn in a whole new generation of listeners to support the music industry and for that matter the audio hardware folks. They have only been exposed to poor compressed MP3 music. I don't believe in free music either. If I was running the show, I would make high res downloads so attractive from a pricing point that you couldn't resist! However, at $18 to $25 for a high res download, I have a whole lot of CD's and vinyl to keep me happy.

In addition, there will be an equipment investment hurdle to get over for downloads as well as the availibility of titles being offered. I think there will need to be some consolidation and standardization before I will jump in let alone the "new generation".