iTunes UnLedded

During the New York press conference for Celebration Day last October, Jimmy Page remarked on listening to Led Zeppelin, "don't listen to it on MP3." One could be forgiven if you thought he meant all digital portable formats, but apparently, he didn't.

iTunes today released the entire Led Zeppelin studio catalogue, "mastered for iTunes." The songs from all 9 studio albums, including Coda, remastered specifically for iTunes. These are new remasters, improved, one imagines, from the iTunes collection released in 2007 and available until now.

Are they better? I downloaded Fool in the Rain and listened to it side by side with the MP3 I currently have on my iPhone. The verdict? The bottom end is much cleaner, bringing a fuller sound to the song. It's not a big improvement, not a wow! but it is a noticeable improvement.

Each album is available for $9.99 ($12.99 for Physical Graffiti) and songs are $1.29 each, except for In My Time of Dying, Achilles Last Stand and Carouselambra, which are only available as part of their respective album downloads.

Needless to say, this remastering is available only on iTunes.