Neil Young streams back catalogue in HiRes making almost all of his back catalogue going back to 1960 right up to the present day available for streaming in ‘Master Quality’, ranging from 44.1kHz/16bit (CD quality) to 192kHz/24bit. The site styled as the Neil Young Archive (NYA) contains everything Young has released as a soloist or bandleader, plus his work as a member of Buffalo Springfield and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. However unreleased albums and recordings Chrome Dreams, Homegrown, and Toast are not yet available to stream.
The files have not been compromised by compression and are equivalent to the original recordings that were created in the studio or in concert. Using Xstream technology which is a customised version of OraStream streaming, resolution can be switched from Master Quality to 320kbps (similar to Spotify Premium) if your internet connection/computer is not able to deliver the full HiRes experience. Requirements are a PC or Mac with at least 4GB of memory and an internet connection of at least 15Mbs. Browser support is available for Safari, Chrome, Firefox and Opera and currently there are no mobile apps.
In addition to the songs there is a wealth of other material – video, photos, press memorabilia, documents and information including original lyric manuscripts, interview and performance videos and behind-the-scenes photos. The user interface has a retro feel to it using a filing cabinet motif with information cards which invite you to explore the wealth of background information. A timeline from 1960 to the present day is also provided which allows you to track his musical career.
Graphics of physical toggle switches and VU meters complete the retro feel and the user is invited to explore the archive rather than select a playlist as is the current fashion with most streaming services. As he says in his welcome video “Don’t forget to have a good time. And try not to get lost.”
The streaming service is currently free until June 30th 2018 but a subscription service ‘at a modest cost’ will be introduced later.
An NYA tutorial is available on YouTube which contains more information from the man himself.
For those who would prefer to download rather than stream Neil Young’s music there are over 30 of his albums to download, most of which are in HiRes formats (AIFF, ALAC, FLAC and WAV), from HDtracks.
Download Options
For those who would prefer to download rather than stream Neil Young’s music there are over 30 of his albums to download, most of which are in HiRes formats (AIFF, ALAC, FLAC and WAV), from HDtracks.
His latest album The Visitor is also available to download in both 192kHz/24bit & 96kHz/24bit resolutions from HDtracks here.
Downloads are also available from Qobuz in both 44.1kHz/16bit (CD quality) and HiRes (96kHz/24bit). Subscribers to Qobuz Sublime can download his latest album at a significant discount here.
