This track takes ambient gaming soundtracks to a whole new level. The name and description make the contents very clear: you get the kind of background noise that might characterize a prosperous tavern. For about the first half or so of the track, you have music playing in the background, convincingly integrated into the background so that you feel there must be bards or musicians performing at the tavern itself. (If you want music that feels more like a soundtrack layered underneath the crowd sounds, try "Rumors Inn" by V Shane, also available on DriveThruRPG.) If you need such background music, I highly recommend "Prosperous Tavern" for that role. As advertised, this track really does loop well, and at almost ten minutes long, it contains enough variety that looping the tracking won't come across as mindlessly repetitive.
My big complaint about this track is technical: the track needs better ID3 tagging, and some album artwork. This complaint also applies to Erika Lieberman's other three tracks released at the same time: "Vampire Castle," "Forest Journey," and "Desert Battle." See my individual reviews of those pieces for comments on their content. Sonic Legends needs to create a virtual, ever-expanding "album" for these tracks, and needs to provide appropriate ID3 tags. Of the four, only "Vampire Castle" came into my iTunes with the track name preserved as such, and with "Erika Lieberman" listed as the artist; all others ended up with the file name ("Prosperous_Tavern_Lieberman") as the track name, with all other ID3 tags empty.
I also have one other reservation: this track is expensive compared to other MP3 products sold at DriveThruRPG and elsewhere. The aforementioned "Rumors Inn," the only comparable product of which I'm aware, only costs $0.50. With the direct competition running at 1/6 the price, and with the iTunes Store and Amazon downloads conditioning customers to expect tracks that cost $0.99 or less apiece, you have to think twice before buying an MP3, even one as excellent as this, for $2.99.
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