The Grateful Dead Are Releasing An 80-Disc, $700 Collector's Box Set
http://www.forbes.com/sites/hughmcintyre/2015/06/05/the-grateful-dead-are-releasing-an-80-disc-700-collectors-box-set/To celebrate 50 years in the business, the Grateful Dead are going all out, giving fans more than they ever knew they could want. On September 18th, the band is releasing 30 Trips Around the Sun, an enormous box set that die-hard Dead Heads are sure to snap up…if they can afford it. The collector’s item includes 80—yes, 80—CDs, all of which come in a beautifully decorated and individually numbered box, making it that much more special.
The entire bundle comes with an incredible $700 price tag, and only 6,500 boxes are being produced (and an additional 1,000 USB drives). It may be a lot to spend on a CD collection, but once they’re gone, they’ll likely go up in value.
In addition to live tapings, there are plenty of studio recordings in the box as well. On a gold-colored vinyl record in the box is a recording from the first time the band ever stepped into the studio, entitled “Caution (Do Not Stop on Tracks)”.
As if 73 hours of music wasn’t enough, there is also a 288-page book that looks back over the incredible and storied career that the band has enjoyed, and which includes an essay by Nick Meriwether, the man that takes care of the Grateful Dead archives located at the UC Santa Cruz.
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I saw them in Colorado almost 30 years ago. Not conventional music but it was entertaining.
No way I want that much music of any artist, but I'm sure it will sell out
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An 80 disc box set encoded at 256K would probably take well 5GB, maybe even approaching the 10GB mark, on standard dial up this would take like several weeks to download, cable/DSL that would take maybe a couple of hours. Plus for that price they had better include some cool packaging with it. 
And, ugh, I will go into hiding. For 2 reasons:
(1) Although I was a child of that generation and did all the sex, drugs, and rock 'n roll stuff, I was never a Deadhead. Not even a listener. They just never appealed to me. (My husband, separately, concurs.)
(2) Going to concerts of aging rock musicians is depressing. Seven or so years ago we were in Russian River having a nice wine getaway and saw that a small theater was having a concert that night with Ray Manzarek and Country Joe McDonald. Wouldn't that be a hoot? we all said. So we bought tickets. Oh god, everyone who came looked like they were ready for the retirement home. I'm sure we probably do too, but it's not how we saw ourselves and not how I want to segregate myself ... yet. I'll go to a mixed-age or even a young people's concert, but I don't want to hang out with several thousand people of my generation for an entire evening.
That's harsh, but ... hey. No Dead concerts for me. And no boxed sets.
