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Should Music Stores Like iTunes Provide Lossless Audio Options?

January 9, 2012
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It seems as though the days of CDs are really starting to become a thing of the past, and retailers music sections are becoming smaller and smaller. It seems stores like are where it’s at, but sadly for audiophiles like myself, it’s not the same. The music provided on stores like iTunes and Amazon’s MP3 service are compressed and just don’t sound as good as a full CD-quality track, which for me makes the files worth much less than they’re being sold for.

wav mp3 spectograph 150x150 Should Music Stores Like iTunes Provide Lossless Audio Options?

spectrum shows the approx. 2,000Hz of information that are missing in the MP3 file.

Some of you may be asking what “lossless audio” is, and I will explain. Just beware of a little bit of technical jargon. The music available on CDs are 1411kbps (kilobytes per second) at a frequency of 44.1kHz. The music that is sold on stores like Amazon, Napster, Rhapsody, and iTunes are typically at either 256kbps or 320kbps (and 44.1kHz). Simply put, the music files are about one-fourth the quality of an actual CD, which is the maximum quality for an MP3 file. iTunes Store offers M4A files, which are the same quality. While most people wouldn’t realize this with a typical pair of speakers, , or listening to them on an iPod or an MP3 player, music will definitely will not sound as clear on a nice stereo system or even in your car which is not something that audiophiles like myself are not too fond of. There are alternatives though, Lossless audio types such as FLAC or Lossless, which are files that have identical quality to the original CD or source. You’ll be hearing the music exactly as it was intended to be heard by the artists and the engineers who mixed and mastered the music. Plus, you can always create an MP3 copy of the lossless one to put on your MP3 player, and have both. It’s truly a win-win for the consumer.

In an age where high definition and higher quality video is reigning supreme, it somewhat baffles me that people seem to be just fine with lower quality audio.

iTunes has expressed interest in these options before, but nothing has ever come of it. Other music sites like BandCamp offer a range of audio options when you purchase a song. From a standard WAVE, FLAC, OGG, and MP3, which is an excellent way of offering the music at the quality of everyone’s choice.

I think an easy solution would be for these online music stores to provide a lossless option for people like myself who would like to have true CD quality audio. If we’re paying $10.00 for an album on iTunes, why can’t we them in CD quality like we could when we bought an actual CD for that price. While for now, I guess people who want true CD quality will just have to stick with purchasing CDs, but there will come a day when those are a thing of the past, and it will be sooner than later. The people at Apple really need to consider the future and take offering lossless audio into consideration. There is quite a demand for it.

About

At the age of 3, Ryan received an NES from a relative and the rest is history. Sneaking up past his bed time to play Ninja Gaiden or Super Mario Bros was a common practice for him, and often caught too. Wasting his youth away on the SNES or Genesis, slamming controllers, and wishing death upon his video game foes. Many a nights Ryan stayed awake to defeat that final boss. There was nothing more rewarding. As the PlayStation and N64 came around, his love for video games increased until it inevitably became one of his passions. Now days, much of his free time is consumed by playing on Xbox Live with friends. Here on The Game Fanatics as the Reviews Editor, Ryan gets to share his passion of videos games with all of you! There's nothing more rewarding than that. /win

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15 comments

  2. Amie Wolken March 21, 2012 at 6:31 am -

    If I burn off a CD into my iTunes new music library, will any quality Really be misplaced if I choose Apple’s lossless format?

  3. Kelli Shanklin March 25, 2012 at 1:37 am -

    I was checking out some nice HTIB’s and just ahead of I was about to get I realized that none of them will present lossless audio with the PS3 blueray player, anyone know which will? If probable around $500. Any ideas will assist thanks.

  4. llb443 July 12, 2012 at 6:56 am -

    If, Amazon list unauthorized publishers and outdated ISBN aren’t they basically promoting illegal activity? If the publisher is Print to Order and sells books would not the Third Party be on their own? Also, Where is the money going? Who then is Amazon obligated to? Their Authors or the Third Party?

  5. Jamal July 14, 2012 at 8:03 am -

    I want to start selling on amazon, what are the requirements to be a seller?
    what is the payment process like? whats good about selling on amazon?

    Im an old ebay seller, Frankly im fed up with them.

    Also what type of fees are associated with selling on amazon?

    thanks

  6. baldy eire July 16, 2012 at 5:51 am -

    If, Amazon list unauthorized publishers and outdated ISBN aren’t they basically promoting illegal activity? If the publisher is Print to Order and sells books would not the Third Party be on their own? Also, Where is the money going? Who then is Amazon obligated to? Their Authors or the Third Party?

  7. Dom L July 21, 2012 at 2:48 pm -

    If I sell something on Amazon, how do I ship it? Since the buyer pays the shipping, how do I actually send the package through the post office without paying for it?

  8. Sergio July 28, 2012 at 9:42 am -

    I need to buy a flat iron that costs about 130 dollars at most retailers, but I can buy it on Amazon for about 60 dollars. Could it be counterfeit?
    Even parfums are so much cheaper at Amazon. How do they get these low prices?

  9. Mc L August 16, 2012 at 4:35 am -

    I’ve done the Amazon widgets, ect., but I can’t figure out how to put on there a link to a specific product.

  10. borabora5524 August 23, 2012 at 9:48 pm -

    I have all my family photos on an external hard drive. I had a scare a couple months ago with losing all the data from the hard drive, so I want to upload them to a cloud service, and I chose Amazon. My question is, when I upload the photos to the Cloud Drive, does it take the photos off of the external hard drive, or does it just make copies of the photos? I want to keep the photos on my external hard drive, but I also want to put them on the cloud.

  11. Sergio August 26, 2012 at 1:11 am -

    Well i’ve ordered something on amazon and it sais it will be delivered tomorow and i was just wandering either what time they usually deliver them and do we have to sign anything. Or do they just leave it at your door?
    Thanks.

  12. stephen m September 1, 2012 at 3:57 am -

    if you order anything from amazon do you have to use a creit card or can you just pay with money were if not were are some sites that do…??

  13. Jenna September 1, 2012 at 7:08 pm -

    I was just wondering, b/c I’m thinking about adopting a retired breeder amazon parrot. The adoption center owner said he isn’t a pet b/c he used to be a breeder amazon, he also said he isn’t friendly with men b/c he gets jealous of men when women are handling him. So… I was wondering if this habit is easily broken or why it even happens? ~Thanx~!

  14. have faith September 4, 2012 at 9:20 pm -

    I see many items on Amazon that I would like to get, some cost less than a dollar, really cheap, but I wonder if they are in good enough condition to buy. Are they?

  15. Chris R September 14, 2012 at 10:29 am -

    So back in April 2011, I bought a HTC Freestyle on AT&T from Amazon Wireless. One of the things I agreed to when I bought the phone is that I would use it for a certain number of months. I can’t remember how many months it said and I can’t find it anywhere on the Amazon Wireless site. Does anyone know anything about this or know where I can find it?