Apple Reportedly Looking to Offer 24-Bit Music Files in iTunes Store

[MacRumors]

CNN reports that Apple is in talks with record labels to increase the quality of music sold through the iTunes Store, boosting the music from a 16-bit format to a 24-bit format.

Professional music producers generally capture studio recordings in a 24-bit, high-fidelity audio format. Before the originals, or "masters" in industry parlance, are pressed onto CDs or distributed to digital sellers like Apple's iTunes, they're downgraded to 16-bit files.

From there, the audio can be compressed further in order to minimize the time the music will take to download or to allow it to be streamed on-the-fly over the internet.

The report suggests that the high-quality files could eventually appear as premium-priced options next to existing formats. Users may also have to invest in new hardware to support the 24-bit files.

Many models of Mac computers can play 24-bit sound, and the iTunes program is capable of handling such files. But most portable electronics, and many computers, don't support 24-bit audio.

To make the jump to higher-quality music attractive for Apple, the Cupertino, California, company would have to retool future versions of iPods and iPhones so they can play higher-quality files.

Apple's iTunes Store initially offered 16-bit tracks at 128 kbps with digital rights management (DRM) technology included. But over time, the company was able to introduce "iTunes Plus" tracks encoded at 256 kbps and lacking any DRM restrictions, eventually shifting the store's entire catalog over to iTunes Plus tracks. A further shift to offering true, uncompressed 24-bit tracks would have the potential to reinvigorate music sales by catering to audiophiles unhappy with the current quality of music downloads.

Article Link: Apple Reportedly Looking to Offer 24-Bit Music Files in iTunes Store

 

[Hallivand]

About time

It'd make the iTunes Music Store more compelling to purchase content from

 

[rhett7660]

Wow... if this is true this would be freaking huge for me anyways. I wonder if they would increase the price thou?

 

[Consultant]

Would love loseless music on iTunes.

It'd make the iTunes Music Store more compelling to purchase content from

Surely that must be why the world's number 1 music store needs improvement. [sarcasm]

 

[law guy]

This would be a nice addition.

 

[Squonk]

Yes yes yes!!

Yes please! Audiophiles would get behind this for sure!! And how about a software update to make my current 160GB classic play them too! And what about the airport express?

Regardless, this is a step in the right direction. And something that is NOT available off the shelf anywhere else.

 

[ranReloaded]

They better start supporting the format from iPad 2 and iPhone 5...

 

[NAG]

I sort of assumed this was a given when the Dr. Dre Beats guy went on and on during the HP TouchPad announcement and name dropped Apple.

 

[CQd44]

If they want to appeal to audiophiles they should offer FLAC.

 

[OllyW]

I wonder if they would increase the price thou?

Sounds like it.

The report suggests that the high-quality files could eventually appear as premium-priced options next to existing formats.

 

[Hitchophilia]

No way.

Even DRM'd to the max, studios will not release masters to the public.

 

[bettaboy123]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPod; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_2_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8C148 Safari/6533.18.5)

Please let this happen! All of your customers' ears will thank you! We need this Apple!

 

[applefan289]

iTunes is excellent, this is the only thing that needs to happen to make it perfect. In a lot of car speakers (and other speakers), you can clearly tell the difference between a CD and an iTunes download.

I still choose iTunes over buying regular CDs for the convenience.

 

[NAG]

No way.

Even DRM'd to the max, studios will not release masters to the public.

I don't think they're going to release in a lossless format. There will still be compression.

 

[Tailpike1153]

The record companies will probably try and strong arm Apple to sell the 24-Bit songs at $1.99 a track. I think my break point would be $1.29. Above that, I'd probably go elsewhere or disregard 24-Bit.

 

[zorinlynx]

True lossless 24 bit, 96KHz files in DRM-free ALAC format (FLAC would be nice, but this is Apple we're talking about; won't happen) would be beautiful.

I'd gladly move all my music buying over to iTunes if they did this. Currently I buy mostly from Amazon because often they're selling the same tracks 30 cents cheaper than iTunes is.

 

[0098386]

Next-gen iOS devices, complete with support for 24bit audio and 64gb storage .

 

[Icaras]

This is excellent news and I'm all for it and hopefully users will be able to pay partial fee to upgrade existing purchases to lossless just like they did with iTunes Plus.

It's good to know at least they're striving for higher quality in their music business. Hopefully their "HD" movie business is next for upgrades.

 

[sishaw]

Would love loseless music on iTunes.



Surely that must be why the world's number 1 music store needs improvement. [sarcasm]

It's not a question of "needing improvement." iTunes doesn't need this to excel in the marketplace, obviously.

However, you can get full quality 24-bit files on hdtracks.com, and, while their selection is limited, the sound quality is fantastic. It would be a great thing if you could get that high quality with the greater selection on iTunes. By which I mean a great thing for music fans. I think that's the point here--that it would be good for our ears.

 

[ericinboston]

When Apple (and Amazon) start selling true, lossless files, I will purchase.

Until then I will continue to buy cds when they are $9.99 and rip them to any format I wish...of course they wouldn't be 24 bit.

 

[jimsowden]

If anyone watched the Palm keynote, the guy from Beats (Dr. Dre's partner in that business) talked about how great apple was being upgrading the bit base of iTunes songs.

 

[Ted13]

Apple Lossless for the entire iTunes back catalog, please! 24 bits is nice, but ALAC should be your first, ASAP step.

 

[HarryKeogh]

Pretty sure my 39-year-old ears couldn't tell the difference between 16 and 24-bit.

Damn you, aging!

 

[tallyho]

No way.

Even DRM'd to the max, studios will not release masters to the public.

Um, I assume you know that DVD-A and SACD have been around for years?

However, 24bit is completely irrelevant for music that has been heavily compressed and limited (ie dynamic range compression, not data-storage compression as in lossy mp3/aac etc): the dynamic range that you can get with 24bit audio is really only of interest for jazz and orchestral music, or for other styles where there is a large dynamic range: flatline-limited rock and pop has virtually no dynamic range these days. Just google "Loudness War" or read this page:
http://flowingdata.com/2010/01/05/a-visual-history-of-loudness-in-popular-music/
There's a relevant comment on that page:

Popular music may have 10-15 dB of dynamic range, which can actually be represented by 3 bits – and it doesn’t really matter which 3 they are

In that context, 24bit is really irrelevant.

 

[ghostlyorb]

I love the quality that I get from iTunes now. I didn't think it needed to get better! Well all the power to them.. I run sound systems for my church and having the extra quality would be awesome for that.