iPod music store switch to higher bitrate?

[2ms]

My biggest issue with the iTunes music store is that 128kbs AAC just doesn't sound remotely as good as the original masters. Basically, the lowest bitrate I've found acceptable is 320kbs MP3s. I realize that AAC is more advanced than MP3, but the equivalent AAC would still be at least 192kbs.

In fact, I don't even download 320mp3s -- I buy the original WAV files from Beatport.com (even though they cost a full dollar more per song than 320MP3 and 320MP3 costs $.50 more than 192kbs).

Anyway, my point is, it would be nice if Apple would start upping the bitrate. As it stands, there is still a tremendous sound quality advantage to buying traditional CDs. This difference might not be noticeable on desktop speakers, but it sure is on full-scale speakers. With Apple's gradual move toward living room A/V hardware happening through things like airport express, itv, mac mini, etc, I anticipate this becoming more and more issue for them.

Anyone heard of plans to upgrade the sound quality of iTunes songs over time?

 

[MacNut]

I don't think the record labels want it any higher. Plus it would take more bandwidth and cost more.

 

[johnjeffrey]

I agree that the bittrate of the music store is far too low. I encode all my music from the original CD's at 320aac. There has been some rumor of the music store giving an 'apple lossless' file format as a choice in the future, let's hope this happens as the iPod harddrives continue to grow.

 

[HiRez]

Even 192 Kbps AAC would be a huge improvement in audio quality while not affecting bandwidth too much. 128 is in the area where, while it sounds fine in casual listening on consumer equipment, it has very noticeable compression artifacts when listened to more critically.

 

[kfury77]

I think we'll see lossless downloads on the iTunes Music Store later this year

I work for a record label and have been using iTunes Producer for a number of years to upload content to iTunes to sell. Last summer there was a software update to iTunes Producer and now all content that is ripped and uploaded as Lossless.

I think we'll see lossless downloads on the iTunes Music Store later this year, in fact I'd put money on it.

 

[dllavaneras]

I agree, 128 kbps just doesn't cut it. 320 kbps is the way to go

 

[Keebler]

I work for a record label and have been using iTunes Producer for a number of years to upload content to iTunes to sell. Last summer there was a software update to iTunes Producer and now all content that is ripped and uploaded as Lossless.

I think we'll see lossless downloads on the iTunes Music Store later this year, in fact I'd put money on it.

i agree with this post. i can't find the article, but i remember apple buying a huge empty data farm building. i have a feeling they are building a massive server place to host their movies and music in different formats. of course, my thoughts aren't confirmed by anything, but i bet it's coming.

cheers,
keebler

 

[2ms]

thanks for the inside information guys, this is something to really look forward to.