Lossless (ALAC) iTunes downloads?

LeBalladeer wrote:

Yes. Click the little X at the upper right of iTunes, and buy from one of the online music download stores that sell in lossless format.

Simply the best answer!

Thanks. And so far, for people seeking to purchase lossless music downloads, it is the only answer.

Burn Purchased music to a CD, then rip CD back into ALAC - format. Worked for me!

In what way does it work!!! All you have achieved is larger files at no better quality that the original iTunes purchases at 256 kbps,

Jim

JohnAsksWhy wrote:

Burn Purchased music to a CD, then rip CD back into ALAC - format. Worked for me!

You only think it worked (placebo effect). Digital compression works by leaving out of the signal sound which it is assumed you cannot hear - for example a loud note will mask a quiet one at a slightly different frequency (very simplified explanation). Once these sounds have been removed they are gone for ever and no amount of changing the format can ever put them back.

I looked in my settings and it showed Stay With Me (which I bought on iTunes) was already in AIFF before I burnt it to a disc. While I had the AAC on my iPhone.

AFAIK the iTunes Store doesn't sell AIFF versions - however it's not possible to check on the format of that song without actually buying it: but wherever you got it from, once a file is in AAC format coverting it to AIFF or ALAC has no value whatever for the reason I explained. Obviously if the purchased song actually is in AIFF then converting it to ALAC will maintain the quality.

Got it, I checked on my computer and there were two directories and the one displaying in itunes (my secondary account) was a seperate directorie (folder) with converted files and the AAC 's was in a diffrent folder (from my main user).

Will you get a better quality if you import cd's into ALAC than buying albums on iTunes or will it be the same?

As CDs are an uncompressed format you will get better results importing as ALAC (which will maintain the quality) than an AAC-encoded purchased song. Whether the difference is significant is something only you can decide as it depends on a number of factors including your playback equipment and your subjective reaction to what you hear.

Isn't that just taking the lossy file and making it an ALAC file? You aren't getting lossless, you are just creating a larger file of a song that is already compressed.

[Sorry: replied without realizing this is an ancient thread.]

Joke's on you... the little X is at the upper left corner.

Ahmed_Joma wrote

Joke's on you... the little X is at the upper left corner.

Actually, joke's on you replying to 6.5 year old post...

Can't believe I'm the only one who liked this answer.