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After reading some of these reviews online, I was a little apprehensive about ordering this because I am an avid iPod user and if it don't rip in iTunes, forget it. After playing it for about 3 days, I don't know why these others are having so much trouble with their DualDiscs. My experience with this disc has been nothing but positive. I can play it in both my Honda car stereo (which may be an Alpine OEM, I'm not sure) and it plays fine in my cheap Sony car stereo, which I have known to be temperamental with many types of burned CDs that play fine everywhere else.
As far as using it in a computer, I am a longtime Mac user with 10.2 and Tiger just installed. Both my 2001 iBook and my early 2002 flat-panel iMac recognize the disc as a regular CD and iTunes rips it just fine. I was able to put the songs on iPod with no problems at all. That being said, I don't know if it works on a PC for sure, but I'm sure if you have current CD equipment that was not third-party and is supported by the manufacturer, you probably will not experience any problems. I also have played it in two different GoVideo DVD/VCR decks and in my Sony all-in-one DVD/VCR home theater system. One pet peeve of mine is that DualDisc manufacturers should just come out and say what hardware it does NOT work with. Again, Mac systems are usually picky since we are only a small part of the market; therefore, the disc should work fine on a PC. Even if the CD doesn't work in your player, the DVD content on this is worth buying the disc alone. Springsteen included introductions in the video section that talk mainly about the songs on the record and his thoughts on songwriting in general. This, whether you are a Springsteen fan or not (I'm not a BIG fan), is THE reason to buy this disc.
The 5.1 mix, by Nick Didia also on the DVD side really spreads out the sounds in the music. It is very similar to a DVD-Audio disc. After you hear this mix, It's hard to listen to it in conventional stereo because it sounds as if they are trying to cram too much into two speakers on some of the songs. 5.1 sounds more natural believe it or not, and the subwoofer channel is used very effectively on this mix. Superb. I would buy CDs again if every album was remixed like this. If this is the future of music, then the iPod has been rendered obsolete as of today because iPod has no possible way of playing a 5.1 mix.
As for the actual music, Springsteen's writing continues to get better and better with age. Some songs that stand out: on the title track, he presents fear and surviving in a real way for every listener to grasp. "I've got God on my side," he writes, "I'm just trying to survive/What if what you do to survive/Kills the things you love."
"All the Way Home" describes people who have baggage and one is desperately trying to find company with the other. We can tell the character has done this many times before. "Reno" is about a lonely man with a prostitute who is still lonely, even after having the "best" he has ever had. "Long Time Comin'" is about someone who has made mistakes with raising his kids and gets a second chance to redeem himself. "All I'm Thinkin' About" utilizes Springsteen's falsetto that is reminiscent of Roy Orbison. His narratives about people who are struggling with a variety of issues, from having another kid, to loneliness and finding unsuccessful and disappointing ways to cope with that ("Reno"), are dark, but Springsteen manages to present these stories using harmonies that are light in contrast to the lyrics, which makes the record not so heavy-handed and didactic, and provides a kind of non-depressive way to get into these stories. In this day of aging rock stars desperately trying to compete with their younger counterparts, finally there is a record that is actually made for adults to enjoy.
Brendan O'Brien's production is top notch, while Bob Ludwig's mastering job is excellent on all of the 2-track mixes. I highly recommend this record, for the technology as well as the content. Many people will not get what Springsteen accomplishes, but this CD will be regarded as a classic in 5 years.
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Get it Jun 6 - 24
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