Thanks for all the answers, everyone! I'm going to go and debate with myself over this deep burning need I feel to own a silly U2 iPod now.

I just reread the blurb Alicia, and the ipod doesn't come pre-loaded with U2 songs. You get a $50 voucher for the itunes store to gotowards the $150 U2 virtual box set. Which seems to be a bit of a rip when you're paying so much for the iPod.

Right, I knew that. I wouldn't be buying the digital box set, because I have just about everything they've put out, and a good load of stuff that never got officially released.

But honestly, $150 for 400 songs? That's a mighty good deal for someone who doesn't have all the U2 CDs already.

Yeah. The extras on this Very Special iPod kind of bite.

Mmm, I'd like the rare stuff, but I wouldn't want 20 mixes of Lemon. The 90's U2 are still dead to me.

Even "Achtung Baby"? Oh man. Sue, you're killing me!

"Zooropa" is one of my least beloved U2 albums, although the title track (at least the second half of it) fills me with much joy. And "Stay (Faraway, So Close!)" is just gorgeous.

"Pop" was misunderstood* and underappreciated. The tour was weird, but the album is great.

And the Zoo TV/Zoo Europa tour is just about the best thing ever.

But all the remixes they released to the fan club? God, I loathe those.

• I say misunderstood with some jokiness, but it was unfairly maligned, I think. It's got some really great songs.

Even "Achtung Baby"?

Not Achtung Baby, that stuff is brilliant, some of my favourite of all their work. After that, though, major bleakness.

But honestly, $150 for 400 songs? That's a mighty good deal for someone who doesn't have all the U2 CDs already.

I dunno. I've been buying most of my U2 stuff used, because I don't feel the need to buy new copies of stuff I already paid for on tape, and I don't think I've spent $150, and I have everything I want. But I'm not a big completist -- it might be a good deal for people who HAVE to have remixes and b-sides. (Not a dis, that's just not how my fannish brain works.)

"Zooropa" is one of my least beloved U2 albums

I love "Zooropa," but I understand it's an acquired taste. "Pop" never did much for me -- I think "Gone" and "Staring at the Sun" are the only great songs on there, and the lyric "miami/my mammy" is just embarassing.

Even "Achtung Baby"? Oh man. Sue, you're killing me!

Achtung is where they lost me. Though I am intrigued by the bootlegs of the stolen tapes. I have only heard snippets, but they sound like the band I loved.

I have never heard Pop or Zooropa all the way through. But I have the Best of 1990-2000, and I find most of it unlistenable.

U2 were such the band of my adolescence, and The Unforgettable Fire is still a touchstone record for me, but their music rarely speaks to me they way it used to. Occasionally they put out a song I love, but we've grown apart. Shrug.

Lyra, "Miami" is the worst track on "Pop" by a loooong mile. "If You Wear That Velvet Dress" is the sexiest thing they've ever recorded, "Do You Feel Loved" is quite funky. "Discotheque" and "Mofo" both rock very hard in an odd, acquired taste way.

Sue, I don't like the second Best Of compilation either, mainly because they used alternate takes of several songs that just ruined them. I mean, how can you even take the Boom-Cha's out of "Discotheque?" It's the best part!

The "Discotheque" video was fun as well - U2 as the Village People gets a chuckle out of me every time.