Originally Posted by
jmtd
I kinda think so, because it was a "tour edition", but I never saw it on sale during those tours, nor ever in a UK or EU record store. It's a jewel case which is pretty unusual for NIN releases (not unheard of, sure, but not that common). It wasn't really pushed as a deluxe product despite having hi-res and surround sound. The artwork is also only subtly different to the normal album, you have to be in the know to realise it's something different (until you crack it open and see two discs, of course.) So yeah, for all of those reasons I think it's slightly odd :-)
Since I've posted again here, I'll write the following, which I didn't feel needed a post all on its own, so it can sidecar the above.
I'm sorry if anything I wrote has come across as elitists or looking down on a particular format or those who like it. I personally collect music in all formats, I don't look down on any format. Ultimately what matters is the music, and even if the fidelity of great music is not perfect, it doesn't matter so much to me. So much of my life was spent listening to stuff on cassette or low bitrate MP3 or transcoded back and forth to ATRAC on Minidisc anyways. Specifically about vinyl: I've been collecting vinyl for over 20 years. Before it was cool, kids! I am under no illusions as to its pros and cons. And cons it does have, especially in the fidelity dept. That's not why I buy vinyl. (I tend to only buy second hand vinyl, but not exclusively. It's not my preferred way to experience new music). CDs have pros and cons. The packaging sure is a con. The fidelity sure is a pro: 16/44.1 is more than enough for anything, for anyone, forever. My top complaint about CDs is more of a niche technical thing, and it's limitations around the way that the error correction works, that drives have random and unpredictable sample offsets so it's very hard to actually prove you ripped the data off a CD perfectly, which in the modern digital era is a pest. I hate ripping CDs. Also jewel cases are awful, awful things. Put all these things aside, and what remains is the music we all love. Peace!