Neil Young fans have long since learned not to count on the release of any given project until it's actually arrived, but it appears that he's sticking with his plan to open a comprehensive online archive of his entire musical career — and it may be available within a matter of weeks.

The latest word on the archive project comes courtesy of Young's Facebook page, where a Nov. 11 post outlines his plans to unveil the service on Dec. 1 — which, as he notes up front, is the same day he's putting out his newest studio LP, The Visitor.

"The Visitor will be coming to your town. I will be going to my town," reads the post. "You will be able to hear me and see me. My archive will open on that same day, a place you can visit and experience every song I have ever released in the highest quality your machine will allow. It’s the way it’s supposed to be. In the beginning, everything is free."

Young's reference to "the highest quality your machine will allow" seems to be a reference to his Xstream service, which he's claimed will improve the listening experience for music streamers by adapting bit rates to match network conditions. The archive will presumably serve as a grand example of what Xstream can do — and even if the leap in audio quality isn't stunningly obvious for listeners, the sheer quantity of music, not to mention what promises to be exhaustive interactive information about the recordings, should be more than enough to satisfy fans.

"Every single, recorded track or album I have produced is represented," Young promised when announcing his plans for the online archive earlier this year. "It is always current. You can browse the music I made between today's date and 1963, when I made my first recording in Canada and it was released as a 45 RPM single."

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