trillian

Absolutely amazing find. Wish I could get the rest, as the live videos so far are quite promising. Keane has always ranked second behind Coldplay and they don't seem to be heading to disappoint me. Thanks again!

Don't Let It Break Your Heart. I feel this as being the next or last single of the album. The beat is so catchy and I think people will remember this one.

Up in Flames. Bar none, this is the best song of the album, and if not the concert closing anthem of emotion, it is certainly the emotion-wrenching point of the whole album. And, while not poppy enough to be a single, this will be the song that is heard most on TV and in films because of its lyrics and music. Enough for me to remember it as the most moving song of the album.

The FLAC rip is on a few of the major torrent sites, especially a demonic one ;). From there, it went through XLD (http://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/23430/x-lossless-decoder) to make Apple Lossless files for my iPhone and iTunes and that was that!

I couldn't agree more! Most Android phones I've had have a DSP setting app, or something in the music app to allow you to change those things. Motorola's have SRS built in, which is just awesome. You can get the iTunes plugin that does the same (I believe its called iWOW by SRSLabs). As to why its louder, I can only think that it might be because the phone boosts the volume due, in part, to the audio processing unit, or because it does it software-wise in order to boost the incoming call volume to an audible level (phones I've used are notorious for making me put the in-call volume all the way up to even hear anything. The volume boost may be the phone not knowing that you're playing music and it can't recognize the difference. Just a thought, but it sounds plausible to me. Especially since your computer wouldn't have the need. In fact, I experience the same thing. My iPhone goes to half volume (8 or 9/16 of the total) to listen to most things comfortably, but anything above the second out of sixteen notches on my MacBook and I'd be deaf in a few minutes!

If you're having problems with FLAC on your Mac, you can find this: XLD - http://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/23430/x-lossless-decoder That'll turn it right into a Apple Lossless file that iTunes will handle perfectly and transfer to an iPod without a problem.

Some are. As I said, iPods, iPhones and the like will take and play Apple Lossless quite nicely, and some Android phones can be coaxed into playing FLAC straight. The problem I can conceive lies in the quality of the components used to create the port, the DSP (Digital Signal Processing) chip or software used to process the signal sent to the headphones, and so on. I would imagine that most phones will play to at least 256kbps nicely, especially iPods that Apple sells 256kbps files for now in order to show increased quality. Even 320kbps, I'm sure, will add an even clearer sound to your songs. Whether or not we could even perceive something at 1000kbps or more is something I don't lnow enough about, but I would imagine that, given what files these phones are created with in mind to be played, I'd imagine the components are not chosen with lossless playing in mind. Laptops and such are probably a different story. This is not to say that lossless is not a great thing. Its my belief that one should always opt for lossless over anything. Then you can decide what to compress it to, and you will always have a direct copy of how the song was mixed and intended for posterity, or at least until you buy those kick ass headphones and sound processing equipment :D

If you're worried about the iPod and quality, iPods will take Apple Lossless files fine, so you need to turn the FLAC into an uncompressed WAV (Audacity should do it), import it into iTunes, set your Import Codec in Settings to Apple Lossless and then convert those files to APL Lossless. Bang. Lossless iPod files for easy listening. Now it should be mentioned that the quality of output of an iPod, regardless of headphones or speakers, may not be up to the challenge of producing the full range of definition offered by lossless files. I, for one, can usually not tell the difference between lossless and 320kbps (not VBR) with my Studio Beats (a pretty good pair of headphones). Through my laptop, it's a different story. Best of luck. In fact, I might just make a Apple Lossless version for myself to hear the difference!

So here's my thoughts after waking up in the morning and finding it leaked. 1. Mylo Xyloto Just what I expected from listening to the live version, an interlude before Hurts Like Heaven. Which is fine, because it does work great, and it's a lovely opener. 2. Hurts Like Heaven This song does lose a bit of the energy from the the live version we've come to know, but it still sounds great and there's enough left to keep me tapping my feet. I would have appreciated more of Chris Martin's lyrics coming through clearer, but that's not for me to choose. 3. Paradise I've loved this song since its release, and it is very well placed on the album to add to the overall feel. 4. Charlie Brown This is a stunner. I've been waiting for the album version of this forever, and I was not disappointed. Though, from the live versions and the lyrics I've seen that are supposedly official, the first word is supposed to be I... stole the key. That is mysteriously absent on this rip, and a FLAC rip I've heard also. Minor quibble, but it just makes the first bit of the song sound wrong. 5. Us Against the World At the beginning it reminds me of Now My Feet Won't Touch the Ground, but it's truly a beautiful song. I'm irked the almost American twang put on the World in the chorus, though. 6. M.M.I.X. Definitely makes the transition to the more upbeat Every Teardrop Is a Waterfall more palatable, and breaks the album up at a good point to bring the slow guitar of Us Against the World back to a synthy pop song. 7. Every Teardrop Is a Waterfall This song has been the prime mover for my excitement for the album. It was never my belief that Mylo Xyloto would be an album laden with pop songs like this one is, but I was excited for something so upbeat and catchy to be the first thing we heard. My hope was that more people would hear this and think, "Hmm, Coldplay isn't just sad, slow ballads, but they can do catchy songs, too." To that end, I think Charlie Brown should have been the first single, but I digress. The song is still brilliant and serves a purpose by contrasting the darker Major Minus. 8. Major Minus This song took me a while to get into after listening to it on the Every Teardrop Is a Waterfall single, but it did get me, and I began to enjoy the darker side of the song, the paranoia that it invokes in me is quite an exciting feeling. I'm glad it made it to the album, and it's a great song. 9. U.F.O. This one will have to grow on me. The vocals take on a seemingly lower quality recording, but it fits the mood and then changes to the clearer recording I've been used to. Unfortunately, I think this may be the low point of the album for me, but I'll have to let it sink in. The other songs have, thus far, been truly memorable and exciting, given their variety, but U.F.O. feels slightly out of place. 10. Princess of China I had not listened to the live version of this song until a few days ago, and I was excited by it, but I was holding out for the album version given the fact that it had been removed from the live setlists. I am really liking this song, it sounds very big, and Rihanna is certainly an unexpected inclusion, but she's not there long enough to bother me, and her chorus bit in the first two minutes is fantastic. She doesn't sound as annoying as she does in her other songs, and the fact that you can hear Chris Martin right behind her voice through the majority of the song helps greatly. It's definitely one of the more interesting songs on the album, but it is certainly a good one. 11. Up in Flames This is one of the best songs on the album and I think its should certainly be the closing song during a concert. As it builds and swells, it certainly works at pulling my emotions with it. Each chorus takes me further and further. Recently, this seems to be something Coldplay has been missing for me. Since The Scientist, there hasn't really been a song that has pulled me with it in the way Up in Flames does. Its over too quickly, but it's definitely one of Coldplay's greatest songs. 12. A Hopeful Transmission Once again, another transition to bring us back to one of the faster and foot-tapping songs on the album. It works perfectly, and puts Don't Let It Break Your Heart onto a pedestal. 13. Don't Let It Break Your Heart This is also one of the best songs on the album. Whether it be by the setup A Hopeful Transmission establishes, or the exciting beat and wonderful lyrics, this is one of the standout tracks Mylo Xyloto has to offer. 14. Up with the Birds The first minute and half are interesting, to say the least, but they lead up to an amazing final minutes of the album. That's not to say that these first minutes of Up with the Birds are horrible, or wrong, but towards the end of those first minutes, it's difficult to see the aim of the song, and the strings are quite loud and seem slightly out of place. But then, you see the point of them as they transform into the second half of the song that really catches you and finishes the album off strongly. Just as A Hopeful Transmission sets Don't Let It Break Your Heart up to lofty heights, those first few minutes send the finishing chords of the album to a cheery conclusion. General The album, most certainly, needs to be listened to in its entirety without break, as I did for the first 45 minutes of my morning. This really lets you get a sense that all the individual songs add the album up to something much greater than the sum of its parts. The album clearly had a lot of thought put into it and each part to ensure they stand up on their own and together, even better. This, in my opinion has been the best Coldplay album to date. The difference between this and anything else Coldplay has produced to date clearly demonstrates that they are more than willing to try something different and make it work. More that that, it works brilliantly. Individually, the songs themselves don't rely on their preceding tracks to sound right. They just do. And with the exception of U.F.O., the whole album is fantastic. Without U.F.O., I'd give it a 10/10. But it has to have a 9.9/10 for that. Please let me know what you think of what I think, I'd love to hear a different perspective on the album. I've read a lot of people are disappointed by it, and I'd love to know what makes you think that. But if you agree with me, I'd love to know why, and what particular tracks stand out to you Notable Songs 1. Up in Flames 2. Don't Let It Break Your Heart 3. Charlie Brown 4. Princess of China 5. Hurts Like Heaven and, of course, Paradise and Every Teardrop Is a Waterfall. Thanks for reading! EDIT: I tried to be as fair as I could, but given my anticipation and love for Coldplay, this is probably quite a biased analysis. I did my best to convey in my writing that this is just what I think, and in no way should you expect to find the same feelings and thoughts coming from yourself. I just wanted to share my excitement and thoughts to give someone else a frame of reference to show me what I may be missing or what I got right. Thanks again!

Figure out when the track ends and when the other one begins in the one file, and then set that time to the start time in the Command/Control-I fields in iTunes. Press OK and then convert that file to an AAC or whatever your choice is (ideally the same as you ripped it in) and then rename that segment (which will be the second song in each of the multiple song tracks) to the appropriate name and then go back and change the start time to 0:00 and then change the end time to the other time you found out earlier. Convert again, and then delete the original, change the name and there you have it!

I think this entire board that is listening to PM right now is in that state. I'm so disappointed that for the next few weeks that The Killers' won't even be able to get into my playlists. Bugger!

If All These Things That I've Done is the bar for on in a million songs, then A Dustland Fairytale has pushed it into the stratosphere. Unbelievable song. But then again, so is All These Things That I've Done. You can't hear it and not sing with it. Great choice, hope it wins.

I'm loving it all. But I feel that the EP shouldn't have had Lost+ and the Osaka mix of Lovers in Japan. I feel like, especially Lost+, just totally destroy the flow of it. It's going on my iPhone without those two, though I do like the new LiJ better than the VLV one. Life in Technicolor ii - Just wonderful. I knew it would be from the preview, but it's even more fantastic than I could have hoped. Postcards From Far Away - for only 0:48, I would have thought it could have just been left off, but it somehow feels like it belongs there. It's a brilliant bit of piano playing, and I wish they'd have been playing it live during they're first Boston visit (unless they were and I didn't know what I was looking for). Glass of Water - Good god, I'm totally in love with this song. It's so powerful and energetic that I just can't help but bash my hand in the air in time with it. Best on the album, and if they're doing singles from this, this should be it. Then LiTii Rainy Day - Very good song, much like Yes is for me on VLV. It's a fabulous song, but I just don't listen to it that often. You've got to be in the right mood, I think. Prospekt's March - Wow. So very powerful. I think that this is the Viva La Vida Era's Fix You, or The Scientist or Green Eyes. It's beautiful and serene and sad and its brilliant. Now My Feet Won't Touch The Ground - I agree with the first post, very much like an even better Til Kingdom Come. It's a great song. Ha, I thought I was listening to a newer Death Will Never Conquer for a second. Sounds very much like a hymn to me, and that just makes it absolutely fantastic.

How did it come about that JT was chosen for VLV? And this, I suppose is because of that leak. Was it random?

We're all really destroying JT right now. Wow. Poor servers. Sendspace too, soon. Wow.