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Level 1

7 points

How do I, or CAN I, buy Apple Lossless versions of albums for download?

I'm new to the Mac and iTunes world, so bear with me. I would like to start buying hi-resolution downloads instead of buying and ripping CD's, SACD's and so forth, but I don't want to sacrifice audio quality by purchasing MP3's or AAC's - and yes, I DO have the equipment to hear the difference. So, are all albums available as Apple Lossless files in iTunes, or only some, and how do I shop for those? Also, can I save a copy of an Apple Lossless file as something else, like a FLAC file?

Many thanks for the help!

Kind regards,

John

Mac mini, Mac OS X (10.7.4)

Posted on Feb 20, 2013 8:04 PM

41 replies

Aug 11, 2013 1:43 PM in response to hermes808

by MP3s, i meant every lossy compression and encoding scheme for digital audio, AAC included.

Aug 11, 2013 1:57 PM in response to Chris CA

by MP3s, i meant every lossy compression and encoding scheme for digital audio, AAC included.

apologies to ring your lawsuit alarm, u so usa 😉

Message was edited by: hermes808

Chris CA

Level 10

82,434 points

Aug 11, 2013 4:41 PM in response to hermes808

hermes808 wrote:

by MP3s, i meant every lossy compression and encoding scheme for digital audio, AAC included.

It be better to talk about what you are talking about rather than expecting others to interpret your words.

apologies to ring your lawsuit alarm, u so usa 😉

Is this supposed to be some type of insult?

I cannot tell but it's obvious you are "not so usa" since you do not have good english grammar.

How do you know I am "so usa"?

Aug 11, 2013 4:59 PM in response to Chris CA

Chris CA wrote:

It be better to talk about what you are talking about rather than expecting others to interpret your words.

its about psychoacoustics... and sorry u no usa cuz U just trust mp3≠aac .

usa knows patent marketing.U dont.

Aug 11, 2013 5:06 PM in response to hermes808

This thread desperately needs to be closed.

BassTone5 Author

Level 1

7 points

Aug 11, 2013 5:27 PM in response to ausairman

Yep. It's gone from well intentioned responses to ...whatever this is now.

Update: Based upon subsuquent research I've decided to continue buying CD's and ripping them to Apple Lossless (for Mac/home playback) and FLAC (for archiving) and converting from iTunes to 256 kbps files for my iPhone. Until such time as iTunes makes lossless buying options available, I'll stick with the above. Vinyl will continue to be purchased and properly archived and played per usual.

Thanks to all the helpful people like ausairman for your comments. If someone knows how to close the thread, let me know.

Dec 6, 2013 6:12 PM in response to BassTone5

You really need to look at bandcamp.com where it all comes in any high def you want. Some of this music is incredible!!!! 🙂 I buy a lot of itunes, HDtracks, Linn but really get most enjoyment from bandcamp.

Dec 25, 2013 1:23 PM in response to BassTone5

I read a post somewhare that said all Apple music downloads are lossless, ALAC and that is absolutely not true. Having downloaded 8 albums, I found out the hard way they publish AAC which is a lossy format, good for ipod, ipad and iphone but useless for hifi where you want all the music. The difference in lthe quality is profound and all the music I downloaded is not usable as I want clear phase coherent sound, the type where the singers voice is in the center not off to the side somewhere. This is a serious oversight by Apple and I will not buy music from them until they offer a lossless format. By the way you can copy from a CD using a lossless format in iTunes so why they don't offer it on line as well is a mystery.

ed2345

Level 9

62,486 points

Dec 25, 2013 5:43 PM in response to larryh111

This is a serious oversight by Apple and I will not buy music from them until they offer a lossless format.

If you are looking for lossless music downloads, there are many online retailers who sell them, several of which were mentioned earlier in this thread.

BassTone5 Author

Level 1

7 points

Dec 26, 2013 3:07 PM in response to Shadowjj77

I'll check Bandcamp out. Thanks, ShodowJJ

BassTone5 Author

Level 1

7 points

Dec 26, 2013 3:20 PM in response to larryh111

larryh111,

Yeah, I had a situation earlier this week where I was archiving a first addition CD of an old favorite, and the first track was just too scratched to copy. I tried all of the tricks, but that first track is just toast. So, I archived the rest of the disc in Apple Lossless and decided to fix it by purchasing the first track through iTunes so I'd have the complete album once again! Well, It's all there without anyoing skips and burps now, but the sound quality, sound stage, EQ and compression are waaaaaay different than my losslessly ripped CD. Not too happy, but I'll deal with it for now. There is a difference in what they're doing to the music and while it might benefit a kid with cheap earbuds on the subway or biking across a busy campus, it's not suitable for those that want more and know better. It is what it is, I suppose.... 😐

Apr 14, 2014 9:38 AM in response to BassTone5

Not sure how active this thread is, but here is my two cents: My serious listening is through Audio Research tube amp/pre-amp, ProAc speakers and Cambridge audio D/A converter. Do not be mistaken; anything less than original CD or any lossless format is totally inferior; you really don't know what you are missing. Nuances, vocal separation, depth and abience all disppear through any lossy conversion or download.

There reall isn't anything out there for my musical tastes for legal download. HDTracks has a good selection but have limited individual tracks and albums are very expensive (like $24.95).

So I am regulated to purchasing a cd's (often used on ebay or Amazon) and ripping on iTunes. This also has one useful benefit: back-up. My hard drive AND back-up drive both crashed withing weeks of each other; I was thankful that I had all the original cd's.

Not sure how many listeners (and music purchasers) are in my category, but Itunes is missing all of our business untill they offer lossless downloads.

Chris CA

Level 10

82,434 points

Apr 14, 2014 10:40 AM in response to RickCarlsbad

RickCarlsbad wrote:

Do not be mistaken; anything less than original CD or any lossless format is totally inferior;

Except it's not "totally" inferior.

you really don't know what you are missing. Nuances, vocal separation, depth and abience all disppear through any lossy conversion or download.

and it all depends on where it is used.

If you are in your car or jogging or doing work with headphones or using iPod/iPhone/mp3 player of any kind, lossy fits perfectly.

My serious listening is through Audio Research tube amp/pre-amp, ProAc speakers and Cambridge audio D/A converter.

How about your non-serious listening?

Chris CA

Level 10

82,434 points

Apr 14, 2014 11:03 AM in response to RickCarlsbad

RickCarlsbad wrote:

Not sure how many listeners (and music purchasers) are in my category,

Just a WAG, but probably less than a few percent.

Majority of users are satisfied with 256 AAC/MP3.

Apr 14, 2014 11:26 AM in response to Chris CA

My comments were prefaced by 'serious listening'; which doesn't include driving or jogging. 256 AAC is fine for that as the output quality is more limited by the playback device (DAC converter, amp) and background noise.

How do I, or CAN I, buy Apple Lossless versions of albums for download?