Take 40 Australia is Australia’s longest running music radio show. It is hosted by Barry Bissell who weekly counts down our country’s top 40 chart hits. Airing for over 20 years, it has an established audience and attracts more each week. It is broadcast through 89 radio stations nationally and reaches an audience of 1.7 million.

Take 40 Platinum is a dual format two disc set containing a collection of hits on a CD along with a different collection of video clips on a DVD. Both contain a good variation of music that should satisfy most. Of course you will never satisfy everyone with a release such as this, so the majority of the buying public can warrant the purchase by how many songs they like, this compilation contains a better range than most available today. Many may also be disappointed that songs on the CD are not on the DVD and vice versa, but I feel the balance here is extremely good – well except perhaps for the Britney video...

DVD track listing:

CD track listing:

As stated before, this is a good variation of popular artists with a few surprise selections thrown in, and most who enjoy top 40 chart hits should find enough here to make this worth a look.

Being made for television video clips, picture quality should be at least as good as that which we see on a weekend morning and it is, if not better. Many of these compilations have hugely varying degrees of quality, but this collection all seems of a very high standard indeed. Picture is sharp at all times and colours are vibrant throughout. There are the odd little nasties such as aliasing and slight grain, but these are minimal and cause no major problems.

Audio is supplied in a rather loud stereo track for the CD and offers excellent quality. The audio for the DVD is Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo and although not as loud as the CD, it also offers excellent quality. Being music, the need is there for a fairly punchy sound and this offers CD quality. A 5.1 track would have been nice, but this track does a more than sufficient job.

There are no extras with this release unless you count the CD, but really what could be added?

Overall this is one of the better music compilations currently on the market. This, of course, is a matter of taste, but most should be happy with the selection available. Picture and sound quality are both good with great sound available for the CD as well. There are noticeable absences from artists such as Eminem and Kylie, but then some may find that to be a blessing.