Here you go:

http://blogs.wsj.com/digi...-for-2100/

By Marisa Taylor

Even for the most devoted fans of The Purple One, the new Limited Edition
Prince Opus iPod could be a reason to go crazy. And not in a good way.
British publishing company Kraken Opus will only sell 950 of the purple special-edition iPod Touch, which comes loaded with a 40-minute movie featuring footage from the enigmatic artist’s “21 Nights” 2007 tour in London, as well as a live soundtrack from his “Indigo Nights” album.

Sounds great, right? Well, the rather sizeable downfall is that the gadget costs $2,100, or $140 per song. That’s because the iPod comes with the “Prince 21 Nights Opus,” a book of photography of “21 Nights” shot by Randee St. Nicholas and including lyrics and poetry by the artist himself. According to the Opus site, the tome is more than 200 pages (each measuring 13 by 20 inches) and weighing in at “an epic 17 kg,” is bound in leather and comes in a velvet-covered case.

So are people going to actually throw down the cash to own one of these things? Kraken Opus CEO and founder Karl Fowler, a former derivatives trader at Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley in London, says that one-third of the 950 available Opuses and iPods already sold over the weekend.


i(Pod) Would Die 4 U
“I’m ecstatic about that,” he said. “Without being overly confident or too arrogant about it, we always knew that we would get to a sellout position within a few months.” To sell at this rate, however, was unexpected, he said.

Mr. Fowler says that the high price of the publication is justified by the never-before-seen material featured in each one — for example, video loaded onto the Prince iPod contains exclusive footage of Prince’s concert. “Even in this current climate, there was a thirst, a strong appetite, for people who were willing to part with a premium, because they are getting something that has never been given to them before,” he says.

Other books by the company are dedicated to Argentine soccer star Maradona ($4,475), designer Vivienne Westwood ($2,088) and others, which do not, as it happens, include special iPods. If price is an issue, the company offers 0% financing to consumers in the United Kingdom. But in September, Mr. Fowler says, Kraken Opus will be releasing a Ferrari book that will come with a special edition iPod (as well as an embedded GPS microchip like the ones found in race cars, so you can track your Ferrari opus in case it’s stolen).

The verdict online about the special Prince iPod was mixed. DevinDeMarco wrote: “I like Prince, but damn $2100 for an iPod is silly. Load that joint w/ outtakes and lower the price to about $500 and I would consider it,” while NobleSon said: “The Prince “21 Night Opus” Ipod collab is BRILLIANT. Talk about knowing your audience/ market. Monetize thy work is what this tells me.”

But perhaps slainson summed it up best, asking: “Do you think the folks offering 0% financing for a Prince iPod used to be in the mortgage business?”
[Edited 4/19/09 14:36pm]

people are buying it....lucky them.

And this! From the Opus website, it links to the Prince.Org thread..
(Sorry about the threads crossing, maybe these should be merged?)


"Prince Opus threads
The Opus causes a stir on the Prince fan community site"


So let there be no doubt that Prince knows the fans opinions on here.

http://www.krakenopus.com...php?id=340

Think we are in trouble now?

!
[Edited 4/19/09 14:58pm]

Rorywan said:

This was posted in a different post
[Edited 4/19/09 14:50pm]

Elixir said:

Yes, I know I posted it!, but then u started a new thread about the Opus rather than posting in the existing 2 Opus threads??!



Keep it on topic??!!
[Edited 4/19/09 14:48pm]

Rorywan said:

Because this is a different thing, this is an article from WSJ and i would not post an article at the back of a thread that has 20 pages. I made a new post for it so people take note of it, the whole idea of a thread ( May i add its also on the front page of the org now without my request) .

Elixir said:

Shall I start a new one for the Opus website mention as well? Thats where this link came from?


Bit silly if u ask me. Have a nice thread...

Rorywan said:

that is completely different?

Does anyone else think that Prince bought a few (hundred) himself?
He's got the dough from most of you spending $77!

That's cold tricky2....but he didn't get it from me!

tricky2 said:

LOL !! He is clearly not in tune to what is going on in this economy. And I am still smarting from the $77 I threw away. Stupid me.



- JD
[Edited 4/19/09 16:58pm]

I guess I could get it, and then go live under a bridge.
I'd have the nicest Ipod ever to grace the underside of a cardboard shelter, I would.

I hope whats left over will be available on Lotusflow3r as an incentive.

damn good for all those folks...

I would love to purchase something very special as this.....but not for $2,100.00. Way too much for my blood. For some of us there is a limit.....yes even with Prince. Good Luck to those that purchase this.
Peace.....Nicky Tuzio

Sooooo.....

someone didn't pay their mortgage payment this month.....

good for them

I guess I'm the only one who got a big chuckle out of the Opus founder being a former derivatives trader for Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley.

I found this odd...





Anyone see Bria lately?

wow...lucky fans who have the opus!!

I guess alot of people have bundles of cash burning holes in there pockets.
[Edited 4/19/09 21:48pm]

This means that the credit cri$i$ is not yet everywhere.
Or maybe that people think the book (not the ipod) is a good investment?
Hmmm.

The Opus is very interesting and luxurious in every aspect and many drool by seeing it, including me.
But who's gonna buy it? I mean, I know one-third of those 950 copies have been already sold but is it really necessary to hold that thing?

The iPod is cool loaded with video is extracool, but 2.100 dollars just for the video ('cuz I'm not the kind of guy that goes mad about richy rich things).

Instead of publishing this item, Prince should have put that 40 minute footage on the lotusflow3r site, wouldn't that be a clever move? I did pay to hope to see some of the live stuff...

Publish the ipod contents?
Please not.
I would like at least full SD TV quality content with not too low bitrate (yes, mpeg2, xvid/divx, etc) and I would even pay for that if not too much appalling editing was done.

I.e.: release one full show (normal or after-one) without overdubs, editing out certain parts, etc.
Why doesn't he do it now that he is free?

Same for audio-only.

squirrelgrease said:

udo said:

Yes, I agree. Not sure that footage exists though, in any high quality format that is. Apart from the brief Sky news footage, everything else (so far released)seems to have been sourced from the concert screen feeds. These are generally crap. Sound quality excellent, image quality bad.
Fingers crossed he filmed some of it properly. I work with a DP who was hired to shoot the indigo club that last night. But I believe the whole thing was shelved. Anyone know if any of the 21Nights gigs were professionally filmed? By the way the cameras in the seating areas were for the screen feeds only. They were 'live' cameras. Not film/HD.

?

mmmmm, not jealous, not even the slightest.

funny thing is...I'll bet my moneymaker that the video will surface again - and probably in better quality.....the doco, may be just the beginning...maybe its just the start of a longer 'movie' or dvd thats in the works....

prince has ripped us off for years LOL, well,no thats not fair....we've paid for things before ... only to see them for sale again in a new form a year or 2 later...remember all those 'members only' clips from the first NPGMC incarnation ..then a year or 2 later they were all (barring 1 or 2 songs) re-released as mp3 albums (chocolate invasion & slaughterhouse)

be patient - prince is just making sure he gets 'paid' before he lets the rest of us 'LF members'- (you know - all us 'everyday people') see the video.....

I think I've read the book twice and then packed it away before it got damaged...I'd never use a book like this one, it'd stay somewhere safe (in a safe)...so where's the joy in that? no thanks...but I like the ipod idea.....maybe when the price is a LOT more realistic!!

Rorywan said:

A slightly HiFi audio track, combined with this video feed would be acceptable, I think, as a starter.

udo said:

I have a couple of boot dvds, even in their visual crapness, you can see how fucking great some of the gigs were. Such a shame they don't seem to have been recorded for posterity..

Ways of the pharaoh .....

The only exclusive content is that 40-minute-film plus the leather wrapped around the book. And that film will be all over torrent sites shortly after release.


Give me a proper DVD-release from this series of concerts including lots of aftershow-footage and I'm willing to pay big bucks for that.