Springsteen's Devils and Dust -- DVD Content (1 Viewer)

[R. Kay]

Cmon' ... its Bruce! You gotta get it.

 

[dpippel]

Well, I broke down and bought this today because Sony has given us no choice. If we want this release we have to buy it on DualDisc.

The factory CD player in my '02 Nissan XTerra plays the CD side of the disc fine, as do the Samsung DVD-ROM and Sony CD-RW drives in my PC. My Denon 2900 won't even read it. I had to burn a copy of the CD side onto CD-R to get it to work in the 2900. The DVD side is no problem and I'm listening to the PCM Stereo track on it right now.

 

[Ken Groulx]

Long-time Boss fan for more than twenty-five years; love the album, love the dvd contents. Only complaint: It ain't anamorphic. (I'm thrilled we weren't subjected to a DualDisc release for this up in Canada).

 

[Scott Merryfield]

For anyone in the States that wants to avoid the dual-disc release and all its potential compatibility problems, amazon.ca carries the separate CD/DVD two-disc release. I ordered a copy from there yesterday.

 

[Ken_McAlinden]

Yep. BTW, there is technically some "high rez" audio on the disc. The video segment with the four acoustic songs has a 24 bit 48kHz audio track. The 2.0 stereo audio for the album proper is just 16 bit 48kHz, though.

Regards,

 

[Richard Gilmore]

Barnes and Noble members -it's 9.99 thru May 9.

 

[Ernest Rister]

The video segment with the four acoustic songs has a 24 bit 48kHz audio track.

This should encapsulate the reasoning why high bit-rate doesn't mean "great sound quality". A high bit rate of a severely limited audio recording isn't going to wave a wand and turn it into gold. The audio here is very limited, very midrange, no high end, no low end -- your average high-end camcorder could probably pick up comparable audio.

 

[Stu Rosen]

I don't know. I'm a fan from the very first album; I'm not a big E Street worshipper - I'm one of those who thought it was a good thing from Bruce to get himself in different settings, play with different people. And I have no problem with "quiet" Bruce songs. And I'm definitely not one of those people who cherish the early stuff and bemoan the point when an artist transcends his/her cult audience (which, admittedly, happened quite a while ago).

And I see all the great reviews; and I understand the idea behind the songs; and I applaud all the good intentions.

But.

Having said all that, there's an relentless sameness about these songs that I hope goes away with future listens. There's just a basic lack of melody to me, the title track aside.

I think these spare, quiet albums can work - think Sam Phillips, think the quiet sides of Eels albums. But there's a fine line separating compelling, quiet works from, well, this CD, at least to me.

You couldn't have found a more enthusiastic Bruce supporter than me, but with this CD (and, frankly, The Rising, half of which I thought was shockingly plodding), I think I have to rethink my Bruce thinking.

Blasphemy, I know.

 

[Paul McElligott]

I had the same issue with Ghost of Tom Joad as well. His best "all-acoustic" album, Nebraska, was a happy accident. He was recording a demo for the band so he played and sang like he would with the band and the record had a certain life to it. When he sets out to record an all-acoustic like this, he seems to throttle back his performance way too much.

 

[Scott Merryfield]

I really liked Tunnel Of Love, but did not care for Ghost Of Tom Joad at all. I took a chance on ordering this one, being a Springsteen fan -- I haven't heard any songs from the album yet. If I wasn't able to order the two-disc CD/DVD release from Canada, though, I would probably have passed on the Dual-Disc only release. I need to be able to (1) play the disc in all my CD players, (2) make a backup copy to play in my car, and (3) rip a copy to play on my iPod. There's a chance that format incompatibilities would prevent me from doing at least one of the above.

 

[Sam Favate]

It seems a number of people I've talked to have not been able to play the CD audio side in their computers, thus preventing IPod copying or other CD copying.

 

[soop.spoon]

Since it wouldn't play in my car, my laptop or my computer, I brought it back for a refund last night. The clerk said "many" people are bringing these back. And the guy at the register next to me was bringing back the NIN Dual-Disc for the same reasons.

It's hard to believe retailers are going to want to put up with constant returns all the time.

May Dual-Disc die a quick death.

 

[Terry H]

What store? Frankly, I'm shocked they take them back. I would have thought the usual "exchange for the same title only" rules would apply.

 

[soop.spoon]

Newbury Comics... a (great) mid-sized chain in New England.

 

[Sam Favate]

I said before that DualDisc is just a gimmick, and a bad one at that. Why music labels feel the need to entice people to buy music with the promise of something other than music is beyond me. While I credit Springsteen for putting the videos out there and the 5.1 mix (Bruce is notoriously reluctant to release more than he has to), I still think Dual Disc is a failed experiment. The industry has to come up with more than gimmicks to save themselves. I have a laundry list of ways to do so, but I won't bore you with them here. Suffice it to say that I don't believe the problems the industry is facing have to do with illegal copying.