I've been purchasing digital albums and almost nobody quite gets it right. This is what I'd like to see on all digital albums:
- Music should be available in multiple formats, preferably mp3 and some lossless format
- album should include digital version of liner notes, either PDF or HTML. Just the cover is not enough.
- mp3 versions of albums should include the playlist file.
- mp3 versions of songs should have most of the ID3 tags filled in.
- mp3 versions of songs should include cover art (this is more meta-data in mp3 file)
- wave version should include cue file so that an audio CD with CD-text can be created.
The liner notes should include lyrics, proper notices as to who wrote the song and who contributed as a musician on the song. I always like the big thank you notes on some of the liner notes.
Noush Skaugen's Soho Sessions had problems with ID3 tags, but did include liner notes. Funstyle had the important ID3 tags and the album in multiple formats including wav, but only had cover art. Michelle Branch's Everything Comes and Goes only came MP3/iTunes (later on) and omits liner notes, although it does include a number of photos.
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