I’m really looking forward to some of those Sub Pop Singles Club rarities being available here. But let me register my vote for 320kbps. 192kbps can sound pretty hollow if you’re using semi-decent headphones/speakers.

Also, do these releases come with digital artwork; meaning not just a JPEG of the front cover, but a PDF containing everything I’d see if I purchased the physical release? I’m hoping it does, and if you’re still figuring this out, please bear in mind that the 45 label is often one of the most visually appealing parts of the package, so including a scan of that in said PDF where applicable would be pretty awesome.

I’m excited that Sub Pop is moving in this direction, but I think you need to at least match the quality iTunes Plus and AmazonMP3 are providing, meaning 256kbs. I’m with Elijah in feeling that it should be even higher. We are asked to pay something not too far from what we would (especially given sale prices) for the physical product , which includes tangible artwork, often lyrics, and a lossless source that we can rip from in any bitrate we choose, as many times as we choose. A lossy digital file without physical media should be available at a SUBSTANTIAL discount – not just a couple bucks.

We definitely want to offer the digital formats that our fans want, and we’ll probably upgrade the bitrate at some point in the future. When we do upgrade the album MP3 packages in any way (bitrate, album art, bonus material, etc.) the new versions will be available to folks who’ve already bought an existing download.

As an aside—the sale pricing that you’d get at Best Buy or other big-box retailer is often below wholesale. If you are planning on buying a CD, do your local independent record store a favor and spend the extra couple of dollars! They’re the ones who take risks in stocking small and obscure artists and they really do deserve our support.

Thanks again for your feedback—we’ll definitely be looking into providing the best packages that we can to sp.com customers.

Currently, we’ve just got the cover art embedded in the MP3s (although it’s very good quality). As soon as we get over some production hurdles we’ll make the whole package available as PDF or some other format in the downloads as well.

We’re also working out the nuts and bolts of how we’re going to make our pre-order bonus material available with the downloads. But that is in the plan…

Any chance the digital releases will be available elsewhere other than the US.

I know I already made my point here, but in the longer post, you spoke of 192kbps files representing a “compromise between downloadability and fidelity.” While I can respect that point of view, I think it’s a bit antiquated. Downloadability would only be an issue if I were using a dial-up connection; and if that were the case, I probably wouldn’t be a prospective customer to begin with.

Also, a 256kbps AAC track (which is what you get with iTunes Plus) is roughly equal in quality to a 320kbps MP3 track.

I’d MUCH rather by directly from you guys but Amazon just put Chutes Too Narrow up at a better quality 256k bitrate, for $8.99. You offer lower bitrate for $9.90?

You said above “we’ll probably upgrade the bitrate at some point in the future” but that doesn’t sound entirely too convincing.

I really would rather send my money to you than to Amazon, and would probably even pay you the extra buck if the quality was the same 256k bitrate.