one huge set would be just perfect but oh well

ABBA has 16

Aerosmith-15

The Beach boys- 29

Beastie Boys-5

The Beatles-33

Bee Gees-11

Chuck Berry-7

Blondie-12

James Brown-8

David bowie- 27

Bruuce Springsteen-7

Celion dion-23

Bob Dylan-19

The Doors-22

Aretha Franklin-10

Marvin Gaye- 16

Earth Wind&Fire- 11

Elton John-16

Kiss-16

Michael Jackson- 22

Madonna- 7

bob marley- 14

jimi hendrix- 28

b.b. king- 7

janet jackson 3

[Edited 3/11/11 20:53pm]

That's nothing, Motown probably has 500 different ones for each of their main classic era acts (and they still release new ones). Then there's a million multi-act ones.

Well, it's easy money and as long as people keep buying them, they won't stop releasing them.

PatrickS77 said:

Well, it's easy money and as long as people keep buying them, they won't stop releasing them.

PatrickS77 said:

Well, it's easy money and as long as people keep buying them, they won't stop releasing them.

Correct.

And also, there is no such thing as a perfect greatest hit/best of album for any artist. Good grief, even Prince's own The Hits/The B-Sides is missing a few songs (EXAMPLES: Let's Work, Baby I'm A Star, Hot Thing). The major labels know about these flaws and they will release compilations with a slight different song line-up to correct the problem.

TonyVanDam said:

PatrickS77 said:

Well, it's easy money and as long as people keep buying them, they won't stop releasing them.

Correct.

And also, there is no such thing as a perfect greatest hit/best of album for any artist. Good grief, even Prince's own The Hits/The B-Sides is missing a few songs (EXAMPLES: Let's Work, Baby I'm A Star, Hot Thing). The major labels know about these flaws and they will release compilations with a slight different song line-up to correct the problem.

FYI: "Baby I'm A Star" is not considered a hit because it was never officially a single. It was a b-side, though.

HAPPYPERSON said:

one huge set would be just perfect but oh well

ABBA has 16

Aerosmith-15

The Beach boys- 29

Beastie Boys-5

The Beatles-33

Bee Gees-11

Chuck Berry-7

Blondie-12

James Brown-8

David bowie- 27

Bruuce Springsteen-7

Celion dion-23

Bob Dylan-19

The Doors-22

Aretha Franklin-10

Marvin Gaye- 16

Earth Wind&Fire- 11

Elton John-16

Kiss-16

Michael Jackson- 22

Madonna- 7

bob marley- 14

jimi hendrix- 28

b.b. king- 7

janet jackson 3

[Edited 3/11/11 20:53pm]

Michael Jackson - 40

Timmy84 said:

HAPPYPERSON said:

one huge set would be just perfect but oh well

ABBA has 16

Aerosmith-15

The Beach boys- 29

Beastie Boys-5

The Beatles-33

Bee Gees-11

Chuck Berry-7

Blondie-12

James Brown-8

David bowie- 27

Bruuce Springsteen-7

Celion dion-23

Bob Dylan-19

The Doors-22

Aretha Franklin-10

Marvin Gaye- 16

Earth Wind&Fire- 11

Elton John-16

Kiss-16

Michael Jackson- 22

Madonna- 7

bob marley- 14

jimi hendrix- 28

b.b. king- 7

janet jackson 3

[Edited 3/11/11 20:53pm]

Michael Jackson - 40

I'm sure James Brown has more than 8.

daPrettyman said:

Timmy84 said:

Michael Jackson - 40

I'm sure James Brown has more than 8.

James got like 100.

I counted 47 but I've no doubt there's more from James.

Chuck Berry has more than 7. Probably more in the neighborhood of 77.

rialb said:

Chuck Berry has more than 7. Probably more in the neighborhood of 77.

Marvin had more than 16 too.

Well it is easy money, if u check iTunes there are alot of BS compilations floating around too, suprisingly its getting easy to get something on iTunes that is not even a valid release. But compilations are what labels make their money off of, its no cost in and whatever they move is cheddar to them, so they can release Elton John the best of, the very best of, greatest hits volume 4, the very best of Rocket Man etc....as many times as they want, its most of time in the artists best interest to do this, especially if they own publishing and masters, but most fans will go for it, when there is an extra tossed in, a bside a new song, a mix a live track etc..

lastdecember said:

Well it is easy money, if u check iTunes there are alot of BS compilations floating around too, suprisingly its getting easy to get something on iTunes that is not even a valid release.

I'm surprised anyone even uses iTunes, though I notice it seems to be fairly popular. What are the bit-rates on their songs anyway? Variable? What is their general file format? MP3? Do they offer lossless downloads?

PDogz said:

lastdecember said:

Well it is easy money, if u check iTunes there are alot of BS compilations floating around too, suprisingly its getting easy to get something on iTunes that is not even a valid release.

I'm surprised anyone even uses iTunes, though I notice it seems to be fairly popular. What are the bit-rates on their songs anyway? Variable? What is their general file format? MP3? Do they offer lossless downloads?

To be honest i dont really even know what their rates and all that is, to me digital is a downgrade regardless, it in quality, but iTunes itself is ok at times, i can deal with it, havent bought too much, every now and then a single i cant find, but very very rarely a full album unless thats the only way i can get the album. But i recently had to report them because they were selling an illegal a-ha album of their Royal Albert Hall concert that a fan taped off the BBC and now under a fake account was making some $ of it all, iTunes apparently doesnt check very thoroughly at times.

daPrettyman said:

TonyVanDam said:

Correct.

And also, there is no such thing as a perfect greatest hit/best of album for any artist. Good grief, even Prince's own The Hits/The B-Sides is missing a few songs (EXAMPLES: Let's Work, Baby I'm A Star, Hot Thing). The major labels know about these flaws and they will release compilations with a slight different song line-up to correct the problem.

FYI: "Baby I'm A Star" is not considered a hit because it was never officially a single. It was a b-side, though.

yeah, well, Head is on there, so go figure. and I've heard Baby I'm a Star on the radio as part of I Would Die 4 U many, many more times than I've heard Head.

lastdecember said:

PDogz said:

I'm surprised anyone even uses iTunes, though I notice it seems to be fairly popular. What are the bit-rates on their songs anyway? Variable? What is their general file format? MP3? Do they offer lossless downloads?

To be honest i dont really even know what their rates and all that is, to me digital is a downgrade regardless, it in quality, but iTunes itself is ok at times, i can deal with it, havent bought too much, every now and then a single i cant find, but very very rarely a full album unless thats the only way i can get the album.

Ah, I see. Thanks.

lastdecember said:

But i recently had to report them because they were selling an illegal a-ha album of their Royal Albert Hall concert that a fan taped off the BBC...

PDogz said:

lastdecember said:

Well it is easy money, if u check iTunes there are alot of BS compilations floating around too, suprisingly its getting easy to get something on iTunes that is not even a valid release.

I'm surprised anyone even uses iTunes, though I notice it seems to be fairly popular. What are the bit-rates on their songs anyway? Variable? What is their general file format? MP3? Do they offer lossless downloads?

256kbps AAC (MPEG-4) files

AlexdeParis said:

PDogz said:

I'm surprised anyone even uses iTunes, though I notice it seems to be fairly popular. What are the bit-rates on their songs anyway? Variable? What is their general file format? MP3? Do they offer lossless downloads?

256kbps AAC (MPEG-4) files

There it goes! Thanks. (...now I REALLY can't believe anyone uses iTunes, lol). Seems like they would want to offer something closer to CD quality. But I suppose as long as people are buying...

AlexdeParis said:

PDogz said:

I'm surprised anyone even uses iTunes, though I notice it seems to be fairly popular. What are the bit-rates on their songs anyway? Variable? What is their general file format? MP3? Do they offer lossless downloads?

256kbps AAC (MPEG-4) files

a lot of them do tend to be variable, though, I think.

errant said:

AlexdeParis said:

256kbps AAC (MPEG-4) files

a lot of them do tend to be variable, though, I think.

That's what I thought also, which is even worse.

PDogz said:

errant said:

a lot of them do tend to be variable, though, I think.

That's what I thought also, which is even worse.

They're not variable (well, at least not in my experience).

I think iTunes has a place and it does what it does well. It's very convenient and they can offer easy access to material that is out of print, prohibitively expensive, and/or difficult to find on CD. For instance, if you live in America, it's about the only easy way to get Stevie Wonder's classic Where I'm Coming From. Furthermore, since the singles market was basically eliminated, it often offers much-needed access to erstwhile b-sides.

AlexdeParis said:

PDogz said:

That's what I thought also, which is even worse.

They're not variable (well, at least not in my experience).

I thought I had heard before that the files were variable bit-rate. Though I can only take you on your word, as I've never used iTunes.

PDogz said:

errant said:

a lot of them do tend to be variable, though, I think.

That's what I thought also, which is even worse.

not really. there's no point in making it 256 across the board if the track in question doesn't require the extra size compared to the others ripped with it.

errant said:

PDogz said:

That's what I thought also, which is even worse.

not really. there's no point in making it 256 across the board if the track in question doesn't require the extra size compared to the others ripped with it.

I agree with your statement, and understand the concept behind variable bit-rate. What I should have stated more clearly, and what I actually meant was; that variable bit rate is worse than lossless. Though I concede that my quick response did not reflect that, and that there was no easy way to connect my brief mention of "lossless" in my opening question, to my thoughts on variable bit-rate and how they compare.

My bad.

Donna Summer has well over 20. Here are some.

"Greatest Hits (1977)"

"On The Radio: Greatest Hits Vol. 1 and 2"

"Walk Away:Collector's Edition" (this came probably less than a year after "Radio" since she left Casablanca)

"The Summer Collection" (another Casablanca release)

"The Dance Collection" (12")

"The Best Of Donna Summer" (1990)

"The Anthology" (1993)

"Endless Summer"

"Greatest Hits" (1998 single disc)

"The Journey"

"The Ulimate Collection"

"Gold"

How many does Elvis Presley have? That's got to be some kind of record.

I woder if the 20 different editions of 'Gold' that they re-re-re-re-package every 2 years are just counted as one for ABBA.

Kylie Minogue needs a mention here. For someone that's been around a relatively short time, compared to many of the other people mentioned on this thread, she seems to have a massive number of compilations.

Timmy84 said:

daPrettyman said:

I'm sure James Brown has more than 8.

James got like 100.

That sound more like it. I wouldn't be surprised if it wasn't 200.

Timmy84 said:

Michael Jackson - 40

That number is only going to increase in time too.