So, What is the Verdict on the Beatles Box Sets?

SS drives also have a limited lifetime and a certain percentage will fail. There is no free lunch.

Hard drives continue to drop in price, currently around $100 for a Terabyte. I spend that much when I take my wife out to dinner. Personally I don't care if one crashes occasionally. I have backups and it is too cheap to worry about.

I agree with Herman. The cost is so low that putting together large HD's with Raid controlers for auto backup is easy.

These new releases are great-sounding. The stereo sounds artificial on the ones I've listened to so far, with instruments on one side and voices on the other. It's tempting to put my preamp in mono mode to listen to them.

But the clarity of the instrumental and voice lines is something to hear. Makes the Beatles sound like the fine musicians they were. Well worth it IMHO, it's a trip.

Yes, they sound better than the older 80's versions.
But, after listening to the Love DVD-A, I cant help wondering what they could have sounded like in Blu ray or SACD / DVD-A .

Hard drives might be cheap, but my time is too valuable to have to keep backing things up. Is it really too much to ask for some reliability these days?