Is anyone else having an issue with the presale download MP3s sounding garbled, kind of warbly? It's most noticeable on "Belong".

Thanks! 

I got that, too.

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Half an hour of sunshine is worth a week of rain.

"Libraries have always been home to me. They have seemed not inhibiting, not scary, but veritable lighthouses of Utopian order and generosity amid the clutter and ignorance and selfishness of so much of the life that is lived in this world."

Robert Hughes
Time Magazine

Mine sound OK. I got them on Friday. Did you guys just get yours today?

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- Michele, from Long Island

Yeah, just an hour or so ago.

I just saw this post by nicopop. It tells you where to send an email if you're having any problems.

"We apologize to anyone who was unable to take part in the presale this weekend. The issue has been resolved and the album plus downloads is back on sale! We promise that the album and downloads will continue to be available for the duration of the presale. The presale cut-off dates remain the same: order by June 10 to ensure delivery on or around the release date of June 24; after June 24 the bonus tracks will no longer be available. For general questions relating to the presale or new album, please e-mail help@GreatBigSea.com or post in this thread. For questions specific to your order or download, please email store@GreatBigSea.com Again, we're very sorry for any confusion this caused over the weekend, but the presale is back on!"

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- Michele, from Long Island

geoffreylong:

Is anyone else having an issue with the presale download MP3s sounding garbled, kind of warbly? It's most noticeable on "Belong".

Thanks! 

Hi Geoffrey,

Would you do me a favour and try downloading again and let me know how it goes - the songs sound great on our end so I just want to make sure that this isn't something that happened when you downloaded the first time.

Give 'r a try and let me know if that fixes it

Thanks!

I'm pretty sure it's because it's in 128 ... ksp.. or something. Lower quality... as someone said in another thread.

Not sure what you mean by garbly/warbly but Belong does make my speakers buzz. I figure it's because it's a track that didn't make it to CD therefore it didn't have tons of production on it to smooth it out. It might have just been a "let's try this for fun" recording.

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"I see you in the front row, bouncing up and down, you're ripped and ready for a night downtown." ~ Margarita
What's wrong with a little flirtation?

Monster Tee

Hi, everyone. First time poster here.

 I can definately confirm that there is warbly sound in the Presale MP3's, very notably in "Walk On The Moon". I know that this isn't a corrupt download, since the files are in a ZIP archive, and if there was a problem with the file, there would be a CRC error when trying to extract the files. Since the files pass an integrity check, they have to be the same as the original version on the download server.

 Having dealt a lot with with MP3 files over the years, I can tell you what this sounds like. It's as if someone took an MP3 file, and recompressed it. I've experienced this a lot in the past where someone has taken a low bit rate MP3 (e.g. 96kps) and converted it to another MP3 file with a higher bit rate (e.g. 128bps), mistakenly thinking they could improve the sound quality. You can only make it worse. In some of the worst I've heard (some I've made myself), it sounds like you're listening under water.

 Hearing the warble will depend on what you're listening to it on. If you're just using tiny computer speakers, you're less likely to hear it. On an iPod, you're VERY likely to hear it. It's kinda painful to listen to, and I'm very disappointed with it.

 I hope someone at the store is able to supply a replacement before the offer is over. I'm not as worried about "Walk On The Moon", as I'll eventually have a prestine copy on CD. And I can deal with the hiss on "Belong", since it's probably on the source tape. But I would appreciate upgrades to the other two tracks if they become available.

Hello there,

 I can not even get the download link to link properly. I don't know what else to do. Any ideas and one? I have done everything they said would get me the downloads, but I am not getting anything.

 

I got it now!!! Mine sound excellent.

mine are good.

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If Great Big Sea had a soul, Its name would be Alan. Unfortunately, a degree in religious studies has evidently done little to prevent him from dealing with the devil... Either way, wherever he goes, I'll be right there behind him. -Sean McCann

As I mentioned in my previous post, it will depend on what you are listening to the MP3's with. If they sound fine to you, your sound equipment isn't high quality enough to hear the problems.

 I think probably what happened with "Walk On The Moon" is that someone burnt an MP3 copy to an audiio CD, and then ripped it again as an MP3 file.

But in any event, I guess this was a learning experience for me - don't purchase MP3's from any site that has not provided samples of their work. After this dissappointment, I'll stick to store-bought CD's, and not purchase anything though this site's online store.

In my opinion, in this case, it doesn't matter if it's warbly. I wasn't pre-ordering to get Walk on the Moon, I will get it when the CD arrives. I was getting it for the extras that may not be on the CD. As mentioned before, it's possible they are not pristine quality because the tracks were never given a final clean up that they would have gotten if they were on the CD (or because the source was not a pressed, perfect quality CD).

Yes, if I play Belong too loudly, my speakers vibrate, but as far as I'm concerned I should be nothing less than thankful to get it. I was going to get the CD anyway so it's not as if any money was wasted in the matter.

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"I see you in the front row, bouncing up and down, you're ripped and ready for a night downtown." ~ Margarita
What's wrong with a little flirtation?

Monster Tee

Sure, I understand where you're coming from, Fran. I also pre-ordered to get the two exclusive tracks, and can understand that these aren't fully produced album tracks. But even though I didn't pre-order to get "Walk On The Moon", to me it's just the principle. There's no real excuse for WOTM to have sub-par sound quality, The streaming MP3 in the web-page's music player even sounded better than the download version, and it was at a lower bit rate. (Makes me wonder if someone took the 96kbs file from the music player and converted it to 128kbs for the presale tracks.) Had a replacement to this file have bene offered, I would probably feel different. But this seems like a problem that should have been easy to fix, and it would seem it was just ignored.