One of the things that I love about high speed internet, is the ability to download high quality live material from some of my favorite groups at websites like this, and this one, just to name a couple. There are now a number of groups that have been offering official "live bootlegs" for sale, either as CDs, or in the form of internet downloads. Fans of Duran Duran, Peter Gabriel, and The Who, can find entire tours documented at this website. Pearl Jam fans were able to buy copies of nearly every show on the last couple of tours. And it was Phish that can be credited with getting the downloading trend going with their innovative website LivePhish.com.

"The Hip", as one should properly refer to the Tragically Hip, have now gotten in on the action. Long supporters of fans taping and trading their live shows, The Hip have now stepped up to the plate to offer fans the ability to download high quality live soundboard material from the group. The group has partnered with Nugs.net, who created the Live Phish website, to join the list of groups that are offering high quality musical downloads at LiveDownloads.com. The inaugaral show posted by The Hip, preserves a Hip date performed this year, on July 1st at Molson Amphetheatre, in Toronto. The band will post two more shows shortly recorded this week at dates in Ontario.

Downloading the shows is easy. Fans can download MP3 files for use on their favorite portable music device, and for the audiophiles (me! me! me!), the shows are also posted in the lossless FLAC file format. The FLAC files make for a substantially bigger download, but when burned to CD, offer the music fan a perfect copy of the show in the best possible quality. High speed users, will be best suited for downloading the FLAC files. You can download the files either individually, or all at once, using the "download manager". The entire download took me about 8 minutes, using my cable connection. I had problems opening a couple of the files, but was able to download them again separately, and had no problems after I did that. Interestingly enough, on a separate website, I had the same problem using the "download manager" on Metallica's official download website, so it is possible that it is a browser quirk on my end. Regardless, you have 48 hours to download the show, after you start downloading it, so there is plenty of time to check your files after the download to make sure that the show is complete. The process overall, was quick and easy, and as is the case with many downloads, I was able to download high quality artwork and liner notes for the show.