Lossless ITMS??

I have been hoping that Apple would offer lossless downloads since the ITunes store first opened. Now that videos are available, the arguement over bandwidth is not valid. Has anyone heard if they intend to do this?
Thanks

All I can say is that none of the download stores offer high-quality downloads except MusicGiants, and they don't allow burning to audio CD. If it's not the record companies causing the restriction, who do you think is?
If you are a pirate, just buy the CD from Amazon and copy it to your heart's content.
It's probably not an issue of piracy but rather that keeping the quality low for download stores is a way for the record companies and artists to force us to buy entire CDs rather than just the good tracks. If all tracks on download stores were CD quality, there would be a lot of albums where they'd only sell one or two tracks off them (download stores, and the iTMS in particular, really resist album-only tracks, though in some cases they have no choice). If we want high quality as of today, we have to buy CDs, meaning more money for the record companies and artists.

Similar Messages

  • When will itms have apple lossless available?

    The topic says it all.
    I would never pay money for a compressed audio file when I could just go buy the cd (which gives me liner notes, and a hard copy backup to boot).
    When itms has apple lossless available, I will go on a spending spree.. but not until then.
    How long will I have to wait?
    (ps - ive checked the faq, googled, and searched apple.com to no avail. the most I cam up with was a rumour from June 22, 2006)
    crappy windoze   Windows XP Pro   major gear list

    Apple lossless is still a compressed format. Just not
    as compressed as MP3 or AAC.
    Right. But it is lossless. Meaning that when its uncompressed and listened to, you are listening to data that is exactly of the original recording.
    This is not the case with mp3 or aac.
    I have a digital audio out on my soundcard that goes into my 5.1 home theatre setup. I can definitely hear the difference between some aac files ive downloaded at itms compared to the lossless files I am ripping from my CDs.

  • Will Apple Ever Offer Music @ ITMS in Apple Lossless or Other Such Format?

    It's galling to me when I look at the stacks of full-quality albums and CDs I've purchased over the years and then consider the apparent "way of the future" which is lower-quality music purchased on the ITMS and other (more lame) music stores.
    I am 99.9% sure that the reason is the record companies who fear any loss of control and who are hard at work writing new viruses to infect our PCs and Macs with if we dare buy music the "old fashioned" way via CD. Sure, there are ways around those DRM schemes to control our computers, but it just seems that once again, the consumer is the slave to the corporation's desire to control everything at the expense of the consumer's rights.
    The day of the audiophile is fast dying I think. Music on ITMS should be sold (as an option) in Apple Lossless format or some other lossless format so music lovers can then convert them into whatever format and size that best suits their needs as music lovers and not the shadowy corporate thugs who fear every customer and every digit they don't have complete control over.
    I think Apple has done a spectacular job getting us this far and I hope Steve Jobs and Apple will continue to push the dinosaurs over at the Fascist Recording States who control most of the artists and most of the music.
    One promising sign is artists who are banding together to sell their music directly to us, their fans. I look forward to a day when artists will control their own fates and their own music and we will be able to download our music at full quality. Yes, there will be piracy, just as there always has been, but we should err on the side of freedom and not control. A way for artists to be compensated can be figured out and in the long run and, I am sure, they would be MUCH better compensated than they are now in the corporate stables where hugely popular stars often retire penniless because of the egregious contracts imposed on them by their consciousless corporate masters.
    How do you think the future of digital music will unfold?
    JoeL
    PowerMac 1.25 DP, .8 TB (in 4) HDs, 1.75GB RAM, Superdrive   Mac OS X (10.4.2)  

    I'm not really looking for a reliable answer as such, just offering my thoughts on the subject and wishing out loud . . . user2user.
    And if anyone has anything interesting to say on the subject, I'd love to hear their thoughts as well. I think Apple should offer lossless recordings, don't you?
    . . . but I think I understand why they don't at this point.
    I know that such conversations do break out here from time-to-time.
    JoeL

  • Any word on lossless audio in iTMS ?

    I (and many I speak to) are still refusing to purchasing anything from the online store until the music can be purchased in lossless audio. I will then happily spend LOADS of money in the store. There was a rumour going around a while back that it could be in the pipeline. Is there any more news on this ? My credit card is itching to be used !!!

    There was a rumour going around a while back that it could be in the pipeline.
    Apple usually does not give any information about upcoming changes.
    But they surprised us (well, not me, but only users in the US) by offering higher quality movies and TV shows.
    We'll have to wait and see.
    M

  • Adobe Media Encoder renders in Lossless, such as After Effects?

    Adobe Media Encoder renders Lossless like After Effects too?

    There are multiple codecs that can losslessly encode video. One example is the PNG video codec in a QuickTime container. Another example (which matches the After Effects output module named Lossless) is the Animation video codec in a QuickTime container.

  • Question about Lossless Rendering in AE (PNG not found, can Premier Pro read this "lossless" export?

    Hello,
    I want to compose short transitions (45 seconds) in AE CS6 incorporating 3D graphics and also a short intro (30 seconds) containing some streaming video clips assembled in a 3d space as well.
    My deliverable will ulitmately be in Blu-Ray format and I need excellent quality.  I have zero concerns about the amount of time it takes to render; I only care about ultimate video quality in my deliverables.
    My NLE is Premiere Pro CS6.  I'm working with some beautiful Canon 5D images on a 2008 MacPro tower.  I only photograph the day after it rains so I can always get pristine shots.
    What is the best possible workflow for me, given my reliance on AE and PrPro and Canon 5D images and .mov files?
    Earlier, Rick suggested exporting in PNG compressed format, QT.  But I don't see that in my render options, although the Lossless option at the top certainly looks appealing.  Can PrPro read that type of export?
    Am I doomed to vaguely average quality in Blu-Ray format or is it possible to have a really nice "wow" factor using this workflow?
    I'm going to purchase a new X.264 encoder when the Apple version is released this month.
    Does that make any difference in how my final results from AE will appear?
    If I need to abandon this whole 3d motion graphics enterprise because AE and PrPro, working together, are only capable of vaguely average deliverables with respect to 3D motion graphics, then so be it.
    I would prefer to cut my losses now.
    What are your candid thoughts?
    Thanks,

    Thanks fellas!
    One two minute video and one photographic screen shot is worth 10,000 words.
    Ben, do you recommend purchasing QuickTime 7 Pro for that PNG render workflow?
    Also, a friend of mine recommended the following workflow.  Any comments?  Constructing my own custom timeline sounds like a bit of a chore.... perhaps it is worth it?  He's worked quite a bit in large studios and does not recommend PNG here.  Not sure why.
    Matt
    My friend recommended:
    "I still recommend ProRes for Adobe, and most of the bigger shops that I've heard of that use Premiere still convert to Prores. Cineform or DNxHD would work just as well, depending on your workflow. You can create a custom timeline that will let you work and render full-res files for those editing codecs, instead of the default low-res mpeg2 that Adobe is set to work with.
    Working with H.264 is still much more processor-intensive than many systems are prepared for, and in the ProRes conversion process hopefully you're adding reel and TC info if you don't already have it (I'm betting you don't).
    Really it's a question of knowing and taking control of what is happening to your video files, or just letting your system do what it wants, which often isn't what's best.
    As far as final conversion... I use Mpeg-4 in an mp4 container to avoid the gamma shifts that i see too often in h.264 .mov files. As much as I love the idea of open source, it's not always practical for professionals. X.264 may be fully compatible, but I haven't had reason to work with it instead of .mp4 files. Given the choice of h.264 vs x.264, I would definitely test out x.264, as I've read that you can avoid gamma issues by using it as well."

  • Many of my albums are listed in iTMS but match is uploading my local music

    I've been an Apple user for over 15 years but for all its simplicity Match more or less stumps me so I am coming here hoping one less muddled can explain this.
    I have a library of 21,000 and after its initial trawl iTunes Match seemed to indicate it had found about 4,000 matches. Even for my diverse eclectic taste I thought this a bit low. Shortly after I noticed that a number of albums I had bought from iTMS that were either still protected or were unprotected had been marked for upload. Then looking at my purchased collection form emusic and cd's i had converted many of these too were marked for upload despite any being available for download on iTMS.
    It has so far taken a week to get my music uploaded as far as now having more than half of my library on iCloud servers and i've been through all the usual hang and drop nonsense getting that far with about 9000 more to be uploaded. Once I have finished my upload I was hoping to replace a number of cd's and iTMS sourced tracks from iCloud but this does not appear to be the case.
    Is there any tip or solution to make iTunes Match associate these albums it is passing over or must i just lump it and accept my low quality copies are not going to be improved which is not what Apple was offering me when i signed up for the service. I am not that fussed about the emusic music as being in similar quality MP3 there may be little merit swopping for AAC copies but it is narking me that I have music iTMS sold me or did not allow me through iTunes Plus to upgrade from protected that are there on iTMS that I cannot take advantage of the upgrade offer.... ??? feel fre to answer or point me to other posts covering this issue.
    Adrian
    PS I too am suffering the now widespread Beatles 'She Came in through the Bathroom Window' iTunes Match that it seems unable to match!!!

    Thanks Michael and Keith.
    I had done a read around at many of the usual candidate mac support sites but nothing really un-muddles my mind about this. I have enabled iCloud Status in my playlists and I have set up a number of smart playlists to assess and monitor the process of the upload.
    I have 21555 'music' files of which 9246 songs listed as "matched"
    Of the 13083 songs currently not "matched' 1642 are listed as "purchased" 2053 are "Uploaded" 9341 are "waiting" 3 are "ineligible" 24 are "Duplicate" 5 are listed as "Error"
    In my iTunes Purchased smart playlist tells me
    of 1837 songs 20 are "matched" 1613  are "purchased" 163 are "waiting" or "uploaded" 35 are "inelegible"
    1561 Purchased AAC files 3 are "matched" 16 are "waiting" and the rest "purchased"
    257 Protected AAC include 16 "matched" 71 are "purchased" 5 are "uploaded" 134 "waiting" 30 are "inelegible"
    Of the 3135 eMusic songs
    2259 are "matched" 871 are "waiting"
    I have only so far seen 3 albums with the download icloud icon and the 3 are from the iTunes Store and they are all of the same quality and type as the copies I already have.
    If nothing else how do identify those songs iCloud is going to rely on songs held by Apple already and for those songs that are of a higher quality or have removed protected status how are they downloaded?

  • ITMS problems after upgrading to 6.0.4.2/Win

    Background
    I previously used iTunes 6.0.2 on my Windows XP SP2 machine, without any problems. My last transaction was the purchase of a multipass for the Daily Show; using it, I successfully downloaded the two episodes available at the time.
    The next day I was prompted to upgrade to 6.0.4.2. Since Apple's products generally improve with later revisions, I proceeded. Now I'm unable to use ITMS.
    Symptoms
    -- ITMS takes at least 75 seconds to load; eventually, it just gives up, and shows me a partially loaded page, with all the proper text, but broken-chain icons wherever graphics are meant to be.
    example 1: http://www.ravidew.net/assets/itunes1.jpg
    -- when I "Check for Purchases", iTunes recognises that new episodes of the Daily Show are available for download; unfortunately, they just time out and never even begin transferring.
    example 2: http://www.ravidew.net/assets/itunes2.jpg
    example 3: http://www.ravidew.net/assets/itunes3.jpg
    Failed Attempts
    To debug, I have:
    -- rebooted; no avail.
    -- disabled all firewall and antivirus packages; no avail.
    -- checked that other machines on the same network can access ITMS; they can.
    -- checked that iTunes 6.0.4.2/Win on another machine (not on the local network), logged in under my acct, can access ITMS; it can.
    -- completely removed iTunes, along with its Program Files directory, registry entries, and both Application Data subdirectories; reinstalled; no avail.
    -- despaired; no avail.
    This problem has persisted for 52 hours now.
    Anyone else having similar issues?
      Windows XP Pro  

    Also having the same issue (every single one of them), I charge my phone twice to 3 times a day after the update, from once every 2-3 days!!!
    RIM fix ASAP !!

  • How do I transfer a gift certificate from one country's ITMS to another's?

    I have received a gift certificate for the Canadian ITMS from my sister, but I live in Germany. I can neither log in to the Canadian store, nor use the gift certificate in Germany. How do I transfer it?
    Thanks,
    Carsten

    Having Apple transfer a somehow equivalent sum to my country is just as good, and doesn't involve any music industry company.
    Yes it does because when you purchase a gift card, the money goes to the music industry.
    Send them an email and let them know you would like it changed.
    http://www.apple.com/support/itunes/musicstore/giftcertificate/

  • Can't Import Songs To iTunes Using Apple Lossless Encoder

    I have about 4,000 songs in FLAC format (which is a lossless format) on my external hard drive. I want to import them into iTunes using the Apple Lossless Encoder. I called Apple support and asked them how to do this, and they told me to go under "Preferences" in iTunes and chose to import using Apple Lossless Encoder.
    I did this using Preferences>General>Import Settings, and then went to File>Add Folder to Library, however, it still imported my songs as AAC Audio Files. Does anyone know what I'm doing wrong? Thanks.

    iTunes cannot read nor import FLAC files - not without third-party plugins, anyway, and I don't know of any that will allow iTunes to convert a FLAC file to another format - so I'm a bit confused as to the procedure you're following. If all you're doing is using the Add to Library command and choosing the FLAC files, it's quite possible that iTunes is misinterpreting the format and adding what is in reality an invalid link with erroneous format information.
    If you have some sort of third-party plugin for FLAC for iTunes, please post that information and perhaps someone here can determine whether iTunes can do a conversion successfully.

  • Separating library into mp3 and lossless libraries?

    I have imported most of my music into iTunes using lossless format, but have been making mp3 copies of some of my music to place on my ipod. This is not ideal, because, for example, when picking songs to play the genius function will often pick the mp3 version over the lossless version. I would like to separate out the lossless music I play at home and the mp3 music I sync to my ipod, and I think the best way to do that is to have separate iTunes music libraries (correct me if I'm wrong).
    At first I thought I could simply duplicate my music folder, and use the find command to delete all of the mp3 files. But after reading Apple's instructions on how to use multiple ipods on one computer (http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1495?viewlocale=en_US), I think it might be better to simply have two libraries.
    I don't quite understand how this works, but I think it means that I would have two libraries sharing the same iTunes Music folder, and I wouldn't have to remove the mp3 files in the finder.
    But I still do not know a good way to do this, and would like suggestions. For my iPod library, I want a copy of my current library, but with all the lossless music deleted. I think this is not too hard; I could simply do a search for 'mpeg' and delete all of those songs.
    For my home listening, I would like to find a way to delete the mp3 files that also have lossless files; if I only have a mp3 copy, I would like to keep that. I could do this manually by showing duplicates, but I have a lot of music and this would take forever.
    Any suggestions would be appreciated,
    Ric

    OK - this is how you could do it. using Smart playlists.
    But first, convert all the lossless tracks you want on your iPod to AAC (and perhaps use a bitrate that you don't have other tracks in? An unusual one, say 160 or 192).
    Create a Smart Playlist with criterion Kind = AAC (if all your non-lossless tracks are MP3 as you say), or bitrate = 160 (192, or whatever), if you already have both AAC and MP3. OR if this will get too confusing, Date Added = (less than 2 weeks, say). You'll think of something that works for you, I'm sure.
    Manually manage your iPod (not sync) and drag the contents of the Smart playlist to your iPod. Then delete the tracks from your Mac while keeping the playlist. In future, any tracks you convert for iPod will be in that playlist, from where you can drag them over to the iPod and then delete them off your Mac.
    This sounds much more complicated to explain than it would be in practice.

  • Want to remove Lossless files from dual-format library, keep elsewhere

    My iTunes library consists entirely of music ripped from audio CDs. Each CD was ripped twice, once in Apple Lossless format, once in AAC format.
    For several reasons (chief among them the desire to free up a lot of disk space on my iMac), I want to remove the Lossless files from my iTunes library. But I want to keep all of the AAC files there as they are, along with my playlists (all based on the AAC files only).
    However, for a measure of future-proofing, I still want to keep the Lossless files. And whenever I buy a CD, I want to still import it as both Lossless and AAC, keeping the Lossless files handy while adding the AAC files to the iTunes library.
    I must obviously begin with an external Firewire drive big enough for my Lossless content. How do I proceeed from there?

    I would take this approach, but others might have better suggestions.
    First, when you get your external drive, copy the entire iTunes folder to the external drive which will copy everything (media files, database files, artwork, etc.).
    Assuming you use the iTunes default settings where iTunes copied added items to your iTunes folder and organizes your library (meaning - everything is all self contained in the iTunes folder), then all you have to do is drag & drop your iTunes folder (not just the iTunes Music folder you find inside the iTunes folder) to the external drive and copy the entire thing.
    If you want to test that it worked or would like to actually start using it from that location instead, use these instructions when you start iTunes to point it to the new location...
    How to open an alternate iTunes Library file or create a new one
    http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=304447
    If you are just testing, then close iTunes after you verify it works, and restart iTunes again with the same instructions and point it back to your internal drive (original) location. Now you can sort your library by "Kind" which is the format it is encoded as and all the Apple Lossless files will be grouped together. Select the first one, scroll down to the last one, Shift-Select the last one which will select all the ones in between and hit delete! Now your internal drive library is everything except Apple Lossless.
    If you wish, you can switch back to the external drive library and do the same for the AAC files.
    Now when ever you add a new CD you can do it a couple ways. But probably the most straight forward is to simply put in the CD, open the internal library, import as AAC files. Switch to the external library and import again as lossless.
    Patrick

  • How do I Download from Itunes store using the Apple Lossless format?

    I use my music on a home sterio and import locally from CD's to Windows using the Apple Lossless format only, to achieve the Highest quality sound. However, When I buy from Itunes store I can only get AAC format, which is low quality. How can I get Itunes to give me only Apple Lossless format?
    Your help will b e appreciated.
    Thanks
    Phil

    I do agree with what i have been said. I am a musician, i think AAC is definitely medium-low quality. I bought this year lots of AAC 256 for Itunes. I have been surprised. SO many times i need to go to the equalizer to counter-balance the weakness of this file format.
    I advise you to do the following. Import a CD using Apple LossLess and then import a CD using AAC 256. You will see a HUGE difference.
    Now i start to buy CD again in order to get the music Quality. Then i import my CDs to Itunes using Apple LossLess (920Kbps). You will ear that on Snares and Rides. Bass will sound more natural. Bass, Medium, Sharp will more balance with each other. You will hear instruments with more clarity especially when there are a lot of instruments. Because of that, you will not need to raise up the volume.
    But more than anything... you will gain VOLUME in your files.
    In general over the internet all the online music stores including Itune doesn't provide HD quality. AAC 256 is not enough. A track bought over Itune Store should weight 30 megabytes, not 5. And then you would decide to compress it or not.

  • Managing multiple libraries with different file types (AAC v. Lossless)

    I have set up two libraries, one for my AAC music and the other for my lossless music. The files themselves are located in two separate places on my hard drive. When I switch libraries (option-clicking iTunes), and go to Preferences/Advanced tab, the directory for the files and the import method doesn't change -- I have to change it manually. This is annoying.
    Does anyone know of a way to automate this change, so that if I open a new library, the default location of the files and the import format changes automatically? I tried ituneslibrarymanager from Dougscripts, but for some reason can't get this program to install on my machine.

    No, it's the same Windows XP user account, but I have two separate music libraries - the music files in library are in a lossless format, while those in the other are in AAC. For convenience, I wish to keep the two libraries separate.
    In iTunes 7 it is possible to have separate libraries - start iTunes and hold down the SHIFT key (Windows) while the program starts. A dialogue box then appears where the required library can be selected. However, as far as I can tell, it's not possible to have a different set of preferences for each library.
    Say the preferences are set up for my lossless library, which is located on a separate network drive. If I then make the AAC library active and open iTunes, iTunes reindexes the library according to the settings for the lossless library and I end up with the AAC library full of lossless files. I've tried unchecking various things in the preferences box, but I've had no luck fixing the problem. Thanks for your suggestion - I have already reported the problem.
    The whole thing is a rather inelegant way of managing multiple libraries in iTunes. Surely the Apple developers can come up with a way of doing it from within iTunes??

  • Can I add a lossless file to my itunes library?

    Can i add a lossless music file to my itunes library? Usually what i do is drag the file or folder into music/itunes/itunes media/automatically add to itunes and it works fine, everything shows in my library and plays perfectly. But with this lossless file i drag it into the automatically add to itunes folder and it goes into the folder but doesnt show up in itunes. I think i know that itunes doesn't support lossless files, so can somene tell me how to convert them into apple lossless or MP3s (preferably apple lossless). Please help.

    The are a variety of different lossless audio formats, some supported by iTunes, some partially supported and some not at all.
    The best lossless audio format to use from an iTunes point of view is Apple Lossless aka. ALAC. iTunes can import (rip) audio CDs using this format. Other lossless formats supported by iTunes include WAV (partially) and AIFF, however these formats use more disk space than Apple Lossless and do not sound any better, and further more do not support meta-tags as well as Apple Lossless.
    Another lossless format you may hear of is FLAC, iTunes does not support this format but it can be otherwise considered equivalent to Apple Lossless in file size and capability. You can convert FLAC to Apple Lossless with of course no loss of quality but you will need to use another utility to do the conversion.
    There is also WMA Lossless, this is not supported for playing by iTunes but I believe can be imported (only in iTunes for Windows, not Mac).
    So, contrary to your message, yes iTunes does support lossless audio files.
    For what its worth I have all mine in Apple Lossless and share it with Windows Media Player and Microsoft Media Center which can also play Apple Lossless (with an additional free directshow filter).
    Note: Music purchased from the iTunes store will all be in AAC format which is a lossey format.

Maybe you are looking for