The Complete U2 is a digital box set by Irish rock band U2. It was released on 23 November 2004 exclusively through the iTunes Store by Apple Inc. in partnership with Island and Interscope Records.[1][2] The collection has been described as the first major digital-only box set by a recording artist, comprising 446 tracks spanning 1978–2004, including albums, singles, live recordings, rarities and previously unreleased material.[2][3]
Announced alongside the iPod U2 Special Edition, the set was positioned by Apple as the online music industry’s first “Digital Box Set.”[1] At launch it contained 446 tracks organized in 67 digital “groupings” corresponding to U2’s albums, singles and EPs; in iTunes each grouping was labelled The Complete U2.[3][4] Four titles were exclusive to the set: Unreleased & Rare, Live from Boston 1981, Live from the Point Depot and the Early Demos EP.[3]
A 48-page digital booklet (PDF) accompanied the set, featuring artwork, track listings and liner notes—essays by Bill Flanagan for previously released albums and notes by the Edge for the exclusive content. Design was handled by Dublin firm Four5One Creative, long-time U2 collaborators.[3][5] (The booklet credits Four5One and Flanagan.)[6]
At release the U.S. price was US$149.99; purchasers of the U2 iPod received a US$50 coupon toward the set.[1][2][7] Files were delivered as 128 kbps AAC (.m4a). When Apple expanded its iTunes Plus offering, prior purchasers could upgrade their copies to 256 kbps for a fee, although the box set itself was no longer sold by that time.[3][8]
Content
Although marketed as “complete,” the package necessarily repeated many tracks across albums, singles and compilations (for example, “One” appears in its album, single and compilation groupings). Several items in U2’s wider discography were not included.[4]
Errors and issues
Contemporary documentation and fan reports noted a number of metadata and audio issues at launch, some later corrected in store updates, others persisting:[3]
Version discrepancies (e.g., “Stories for Boys” sourced from a compilation rather than the Three EP; “Even Better Than the Real Thing” and “Mysterious Ways” not matching the album edits).
Truncated audio on certain regional listings (e.g., the opening drum hit of “Sunday Bloody Sunday” in the U.S.).
Faulty or mislabelled files at launch (e.g., “Who’s Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses (Temple Bar Remix)” resolving to “Paint It, Black”; “A Sort of Homecoming (Live from Wembley)” uploading initially as a 0:12 clip).
Subsequent 256 kbps iTunes Plus upgrades in 2009 introduced further mismatches in some territories (for example, substitution of mixes and mislabelled tracks), with corrections varying by region.[3]
Withdrawal
On 20 December 2007 the set was removed from the iTunes Store worldwide and has not been reissued as a complete package since; existing owners later gained access to iTunes Plus upgrades.[9][3]
Live from Boston 1981 was recorded at the Paradise Rock Club on 6March1981(1981-03-06) during the Boy Tour. Several performances had previously appeared as B-sides or bonus tracks on various singles.[3]
Live from the Point Depot documented U2’s New Year's Eve performance at Dublin’s Point Depot in 1989, officially released here after years of circulation as a bootleg recording.[3]
Early Demos contains three studio demos produced by Barry Devlin and recorded at Keystone Studios in November 1978. Two tracks (“Street Mission” and “The Fool”) are otherwise unavailable on U2 studio albums; “Shadows and Tall Trees” later appeared on Boy (1980).[3]
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