My friend Jerod sent me over a couple of photos of the ultra-limited (well, at only 30K available it is by Beatles standards) Apple Records USB drive containing high quality audio recordings, exclusive videos, and a shit ton of photos. At a retail price tag of $280, this is certainly not for the casual fan, but anyone who can shell out the cash for the recently remastered mono/stereo box sets have to be at least thinking about adding this to the collection. Here’s what Jerod had to say about it:

It’s pretty awesome! The apple is really heavy, I think it’s solid metal. The packaging is kinda like an iPod or iPhone — really minimal and clean. I watched all the mini documentaries last night and they are amazing. They have lots of audio from the studio, like from when they would be rolling tape before and after the takes, or the beginning of bad takes.

The audio quality is really good. I’ve only been listening to the FLAC files, all of which are 7.32GB. The mp3s are 1.39GB but are a good 320kbs bit rate (those are better for iPods and the like since iTunes can’t import FLAC files). The drive has an autorun flash interface which allows access to all the music in a cover-flow-esque user interface. It also has the 13 videos, and a bunch of photos including alternate photos from album covers.

Over all, I’ve only been more and more happy with the purchase as time has gone by. I got my hands on it just last night, but I’ve already listened to three of the albums, watched all the videos, and looked at a good chunk of the photos! Some people have scoffed at me when I tell them the price, but I think it is really well priced. Plus, because there are only 30,000, it might very well be worth a lot more in the future, maybe even the near future.

So there you have it! If you want to take the plunge, there are several outlets selling it. If not, here are some more shots Jerod took of the packaging as well as the drive itself so you can almost experience the feeling of unwrapping this gem: