Thank you for saving me the trouble of replying to Phoenix's rather ignorant post.
I would rather be a "tech nerd" than an ignorant simpleton.
Anyhow, yes compressed studio mixed live recordings will sound better than an audience recording.
However there is a difference between a post-concert mixed live recording and just a raw soundboard recording (like many bootlegs are.) Sometimes a audience recording sounds better than a raw soundboard recording. It all depends on how good the live sound crew is at the mixing desk.
Nevertheless if the band does offer live shows. They should offer them in more than one format, and neither should be in the iTunes format. However that seems unlikely considering their relationship with Apple. In all likelihood they will be iTunes exclusives, which is just really lame.
Pressed CDs would be a good option as well. Especially for fans that are still on dial up or don't have internet access.
iTunes are complete garbage. The only reason most people dont realize that is because they
A. Listen to them on their inferior computer speaker setup.
B. Or listen to them on their iPod with lousy headphones.
Here is a suggestion for thos who are interested in performing a test. Go download a U2 album off of iTunes. Burn it to CD, then play that CD on a good home stereo system. Then after that, play a pressed store bought version of that same album on the same stereo.
That should convince even the most technologically ignorant of people.
broken toy said:
Phoenix, it's great that you have found a "post-production" technique that enhances your enjoyment of lossy files....
But to be clear, there is no earthly way to restore sonic information that has been removed in the compression process. Anything you did would just be a computer guessing and filling in artificial information. You can downsample effectively all you want, but you cannot upsample and have it mean anything. I don't want non "tech nerds" thinking they can resurrect the dead.
And I have heard top-quality audience recordings that sound better than soundboards, but I'll grant those are few and far between, compared to the many iffy audience recordings, even those made with good equipment by competent tapers.
My bottom line: U2 releasing live shows is a good thing, however it comes about.