Received ONA live last night (along with a 2nd copy of ONA studio), and thought I'd share my initial thoughts.

Overall, it is INCREDIBLE to have a live recording such as this. With a catalog like his, there is no way to please everyone with a live show, but this one comes darn close. The aftershow disc is the most intriguing to me.

If ONA live had been an exclusive release for members, it would have been the club's finest hour. The color booklet is mainly devoted to club members as it is.

As box sets/packaging goes, I would say this release is good but not stellar. Packaging/design of Prince's CDs has not been great IMHO since SOTT, with the exception of Gold and The Hits/B-sides. The typography in the ONA book just isn't entirely professional -- the cursive typeface and "Papyrus" used on the inside pages looks a bit amateur to me, but the photography is great, and there's lots of it.

While I'm disappointed to not have at least received Xenophobia (studio) as at least a download this year (it's apparent that the album, or at least a lot of instrumental tracks, are finished and could be given to members), overall I'm satisfied with the club. I can get over the non-exclusivity of the box set -- I can't see the average person buying this box set anyway, so members who demand exclusivity don't have a whole lot to worry about, although such worries/concerns are justified. I'm just glad to have the set -- it's the culmination of waiting that's been going on since February. It's a relief. It's a great concert set. Some $$ was spent to make it look and sound good.

Getting ONA studio twice is fine, though nothing that I couldn't have lived without. I personally think that ONA studio may end up in the public release of the box set. My copy was inside the shrink-wrapped ONA box set...seems like it was meant to be part of the package to me.

I've enjoyed reading others' comments while waiting on my set to arrive -- thought I'd do the same for others who are still waiting. Peace.

I'm with you on this one!!! Thanks for your PoSiTiVe comments. It's always nice to read a few here and there.

Much Love,
LoLinex

p.s. I'm glad you got your box set.

Well, I won't take credit for completely positive comments, but they were generally positive!