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Apple Releases iTunes 7.2, Launches iTunes Plus (DRM Free)
- Thread starter zephead
- Start date
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I too have been waiting for this. I bought 9 CDs this week as I got tired of waiting. Just got the notification that 7.2 was available so hopped right on over here to see what it was all about. I downloaded and installed on WinXP Pro, jumped to the iTunes store and got a message about the +tunes add on, asking if I wanted to go to +tunes versions by default, which of course I do.
Just tried buying a Genesis album (Duke (2007 Remastered)) from the Luxembourg store and only two tracks from the album downloaded. The others gave me an error message saying stopped (err = -3259). Google doesn't throw anything up for that error yet so I guess it's early days. Maybe teething troubles getting all the content onto the servers, although I would have thought that Apple would have sorted all that out before releasing 7.2.
Price wise, I think that 9.99 euros is reasonable and competitive with Amazon where a CD is about the same. I would still ultimately prefer a higher bitrate (I rip my CD collection to FLAC) so I won't say just yet that the CD is dead to me. But it's great that iTunes has now become a viable option for me (DRMed music doesn't play on my SlimDevices Squeezebox 3 players, which is how I consume my music for the most part). Progress for sure!
Just tried buying a Genesis album (Duke (2007 Remastered)) from the Luxembourg store and only two tracks from the album downloaded. The others gave me an error message saying stopped (err = -3259). Google doesn't throw anything up for that error yet so I guess it's early days. Maybe teething troubles getting all the content onto the servers, although I would have thought that Apple would have sorted all that out before releasing 7.2.
Price wise, I think that 9.99 euros is reasonable and competitive with Amazon where a CD is about the same. I would still ultimately prefer a higher bitrate (I rip my CD collection to FLAC) so I won't say just yet that the CD is dead to me. But it's great that iTunes has now become a viable option for me (DRMed music doesn't play on my SlimDevices Squeezebox 3 players, which is how I consume my music for the most part). Progress for sure!
Upgrading didn't work for me. It acted like it had taken the money, then put up a window saying: "The item is no longer available."
I tried it quite a few times. Let's hope it didn't charge me each time...
I tried it quite a few times. Let's hope it didn't charge me each time...
One of the benefits of being a student and having final exams:
time enough to click OK every other minute
Apple need to work on this - upgraded a few albums had 70 or so songs to download - I still have about 30 tracks or so that keep failing to download. iTunes has been open 8 hours so far trying to download these tracks.
I have pity for you, guys, and you are probably the ones with a better internet connection than me!
I was up until 3am GMT doing the downloads (well the ones that would work) and when I woke up there were still 30 or so to do. Such a pain isn't it? I actually bought these upgrades at 1pm GMT yesterday afternoon but there are about 10 left to do, some won't budge, but no error message. I posted up about this in the iTunes forum if you'd like to read more on my experience.
Have to say, I've given up getting mad at what is literally files and tried smiling through the day.
Good luck everyone.
I was up until 3am GMT doing the downloads (well the ones that would work) and when I woke up there were still 30 or so to do. Such a pain isn't it? I actually bought these upgrades at 1pm GMT yesterday afternoon but there are about 10 left to do, some won't budge, but no error message. I posted up about this in the iTunes forum if you'd like to read more on my experience.
Have to say, I've given up getting mad at what is literally files and tried smiling through the day.
Good luck everyone.
Emi
Some people here have said that only a few songs have been upgraded, but are sure they have more EMI music they have bought from iTunes. Do you think that iTunes don't have all their EMI music upgraded and that they will finally upgrade them all after a few days? Would you be able to "upgrade" again a few days later to see if any more songs have been added to iTunes Plus?
Some people here have said that only a few songs have been upgraded, but are sure they have more EMI music they have bought from iTunes. Do you think that iTunes don't have all their EMI music upgraded and that they will finally upgrade them all after a few days? Would you be able to "upgrade" again a few days later to see if any more songs have been added to iTunes Plus?
That's exactly what's happened to me. I wonder if some of the songs I've bought are not available anymore, and so cause the whole thing to fail.When I try to upgrade my library - 10 albums and 12 songs, I get the message:
the item you tried to buy is no longer available
etc
The message doesnt specify "which" item - and anyway the list was generated by iTunes so one would think would only include available items....
Anyway - this prevents any upgrading!
Anyone else experienced this? If so, is there a fix?
Whatever the cause, it is a mistake on Apple's part. I'm going to let them know: let's hope they fix it.
Digital Sucks Anyway
Since digital is so lossy anyway and I buy most of my music on vinyl, a small increase in audio quality is well appreciated. What I'd really like to see at the very least is to have lossless audio availabe on itunes and even better, i'd like to see a way to rip Super-Audio cd's and Dvd-Audio into itunes and for them to have available lossless SACD/DVD-A files available even if a whole album takes up 4 gigs.
Since digital is so lossy anyway and I buy most of my music on vinyl, a small increase in audio quality is well appreciated. What I'd really like to see at the very least is to have lossless audio availabe on itunes and even better, i'd like to see a way to rip Super-Audio cd's and Dvd-Audio into itunes and for them to have available lossless SACD/DVD-A files available even if a whole album takes up 4 gigs.
Apparently not - someone on an Apple discussion board went through all their listed songs
eek: ) confirming that they ARE available on iTunes. The latest theory is that some pdf booklets or special "album only" tracks are causing the problem.... we will see..Rubbish. Pretty much any studio you walk into these days uses digital recording. The mastering process to convert anything recorded into 44.1KHz 16-Bit CD-Audio is far less lossy than creating a vinyl master and pressing vinyl, most of which is low quality these days anyway. Most people who prefer vinyl just like the sound vinyl has. It is far from accurate, and is usually preferred by people who just don't trust CDs, for no apparent reason.
Drop-outs in one upgraded track
FYI:
I upgraded a few tracks this morning and found audio drop-outs in several places of one of them: "He is our King", by "David Crowder Band".
I've emailed the iTMS support desk.
FYI:
I upgraded a few tracks this morning and found audio drop-outs in several places of one of them: "He is our King", by "David Crowder Band".
I've emailed the iTMS support desk.
I think there are several factors involved here. Mostly the difference in sound has to do with frequency domain colouration from the vinyl mastering and playback processes.
1. The sound of vinyl appears amazingly good (relatively speaking) when it emerges from behind the din of rumble, clicks, pops, groove echo, etc. This is sort of a psychological effect.
2. The difference in low frequency response - low frequencies are rolled off on vinyl to reduce excursion and thus spiral pitch which increases the time available per side. This is akin to the preference some have for low frequency drivers/subwoofers that gently roll off and improve the apparent "tightness" of the bass frequencies. In these cases, the real problem is the listening room.
3. The high frequency peaking (sometimes termed "sweetness") that results when a rounded edge stylus tries to negotiate the undulations cut by a sharp edge tool in the master. As the stylus wears, this gradually lowers in frequency at which this peaking occurs and becomes more and more pronounced.
So, what we are mainly talking about here with a preference for vinyl is a preference for the altered frequency response. This can be duplicated with a parametric equalizer, so there is no reason to go with vinyl.
Rob
Apparently not - someone on an Apple discussion board went through all their listed songs
Is there a solution to this, I'd quite like to upgrade all my tracks but always get the 'The item you tried to buy is no longer available' message. I don't think this was very well tested before it was rolled out, surely when testing they would have checked on 'album only' tracks and pdf booklets as they are pretty standard in the iTunes store world.
Just tried mine again and it worked!
All 43 tunes downloaded..... success!
Must have been all that load.