Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Would you buy lossless iTunes music (and max price)?
- Thread starter Dulcimer
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
This is precisely the reason I don't purchase tracks from iTunes. I purchase the Compact Disc and/or vinyl with CD. Even if they did offer lossless, I would probably still purchase the CD unless a high resolution greater than 44.1k/16 was offered.
It depends.
If iTunes started offering their music as Apple Lossless, it would have to be across-the-board. I'm sure they'll do like they did with iTunes Plus and only offer select albums in that format.
Also, the price would likely hit $1.99 per song, just like how now most of the songs on there went from $0.99 to $1.29.
I would buy music on there if it were priced competitively with a physical CD that I can go buy at Best Buy or Amazon for ~$12.
Otherwise, what would be the point?
It would be nice to see Amazon's music store start offering FLAC downloads at CD quality (16/44 1411.2k).
Another cool touch would be if you could buy older versions of albums because I know I have a couple of CD's that the older versions are mastered better.
iTunes Plus 256 AAC is so close to a CD that most people can't tell a difference. So... I don't really see iTunes moving up to Apple Lossless any time soon. I heard it even took a lot for them to upgrade to 256.
FWIW, if they do go to ALAC, all their albums should include the digital booklet.
I'd rather buy music with zero compression than just trying to get lossless.
If iTunes started offering their music as Apple Lossless, it would have to be across-the-board. I'm sure they'll do like they did with iTunes Plus and only offer select albums in that format.
Also, the price would likely hit $1.99 per song, just like how now most of the songs on there went from $0.99 to $1.29.
I would buy music on there if it were priced competitively with a physical CD that I can go buy at Best Buy or Amazon for ~$12.
Otherwise, what would be the point?
It would be nice to see Amazon's music store start offering FLAC downloads at CD quality (16/44 1411.2k).
Another cool touch would be if you could buy older versions of albums because I know I have a couple of CD's that the older versions are mastered better.
iTunes Plus 256 AAC is so close to a CD that most people can't tell a difference. So... I don't really see iTunes moving up to Apple Lossless any time soon. I heard it even took a lot for them to upgrade to 256.
FWIW, if they do go to ALAC, all their albums should include the digital booklet.
I'd rather buy music with zero compression than just trying to get lossless.
Last edited:
It's doubtful Apple could start offering ALAC across the board since the record industry would not be fully on board. This could be a complete holdup anyway. The industry is reluctant to offer lossless (especially 96/24 HD) files because it doesn't want Master quality copies (or any lossless) in the wild. Of course there is no way they can put the CD back in the bottle, but.....
Most of the 99¢ to $1.29 increase is attributed to the record companies demands. One of there big sticking points (and actually a valid one) is people "cherry pick tracks" and spend much less on average than buying an all inclusive CD.
Why would you prefer to download WAV or AIFF files over ALAC or FLAC?
It's doubtful Apple could start offering ALAC across the board since the record industry would not be fully on board. This could be a complete holdup anyway. The industry is reluctant to offer lossless (especially 96/24 HD) files because it doesn't want Master quality copies (or any lossless) in the wild. Of course there is no way they can put the CD back in the bottle, but.....
Most of the 99¢ to $1.29 increase is attributed to the record companies demands. One of there big sticking points (and actually a valid one) is people "cherry pick tracks" and spend much less on average than buying an all inclusive CD.
Why would you prefer to download WAV or AIFF files over ALAC or FLAC?
I'm not talking about file compression as in "lossless." I'm talking about uncompressed music as in ZERO dynamic range compression. That way I would actually get the same sound quality that vinyl buyers are getting.
10-4, without qualifying I just assumed data compression.
It seems ironic that in the (olden) days of analog (LP's are about 50dB) we often had music with more dynamic range and now that we have CD with 96dB the music is often compressed into the top 10dB range.Unfortunately with iPod earphones, noisy backgrounds, short attention spans and increasingly hearing impaired youth we are stuck with the loudness wars.
Even when released on vinyl most modern music is over compressed, it has nothing to do with the format you buy it on
Dynamic range/compression and loudness have nothing to do with lossless formats per se (although that may not be true of lossy formats like MP3). That stuff is done during the mixing and mastering. As to vinyl, I hate to disabuse you of this, but it is inferior in every way to properly done digital. Sure, I still listen to vinyl but only where there is no other source available or the alternative digital source was a piss-poor transfer/remaster job.
Sorry but a CD IS lossless. The Redbook CD offers no form of lossy compression in the spec and was even invented (I believe) before lossy compression for music was released, FAR predateing MP1.
CD is lossless, but CD is a downgraded format since masters are recorded using a higher bitrate and sampling, a typical master will use 24bit/48khz or higher while a final CD will be downgraded to 16bit/44.1Khz.
Well aware of sample rate conversion and bit rate reduction (downgrading, while I somewhat agree, is a misleading term), but as I correctly started and you reaffirmed the CD is a lossless format. My response was a direct answer to the previous poster. However this thread is about Apple offering lossless music and not about offering lossless HD (24/96). In all probability if lossless (ALAC) does come to iTunes it will be 16/44.1 just like a CD.
The studios are extremely reluctant to offer Master quality files for download.
Also there are many super high quality digital recordings and Masters that were made in the 80's and 90's that are 16bit and 18bit.
I would only buy it if it was 24/96 at max price of $1.29.
There's no good reason for why Apple doesn't offer lossless.
If memory on mobile devices is an issue, then just convert it to 320 m4a on sync. The lossless versions would stay on the computer where you have plenty of space. Perfect compromise. I don't understand why they can't figure that out.
There's no good reason for why Apple doesn't offer lossless.
If memory on mobile devices is an issue, then just convert it to 320 m4a on sync. The lossless versions would stay on the computer where you have plenty of space. Perfect compromise. I don't understand why they can't figure that out.
I think it has more to do with the record companies. Apple had to negotiate quite a bit in order to offer DRM-free music at $1.29.