[Crimson]

Not trying to stir the pot on this argument, but you realize that $5,000,000 is but a small blip on Apple's financial radar, right? Apple is the market leader regardless of small blips by Amazon, Pono, etc.

I stand-by what I said earlier regarding market trends. Apple didn't get where it is by playing catch-up with anyone. They, in fact, are the primary trend setter in the industry. Pono is doing nothing revolutionary. All they're doing is copying what Apple did over a decade ago, only they're doing it with high res DL's, not mp3's. If Apple provides high res DL's, it won't be because of pressure from anyone other than consumers.

+1

[werd]

Ya, and if they come out with an audiophile player, and playback software, they will cut even more knees off. They definitely have the money and resources to pull it off. My question is why have they waited so long?

They've waited because Hi-res only works well on recordings that aren't recorded loud. 90% of these new artists are junk. Its fast food music and they pull it off using loud recordings. Its about making money not finding and producing quality music. Hi res sits right in the face of their profits. This will never happen or it will fade out fast and Apple will drop it.

[DS-21]

What a waste. "Hi-rez" doesn't offer audible benefits, given the same master. (See Meyer & Moran, 2007.)

Better to use that bandwidth for multichannel. And for 1TB+ flash drives to come down in price.

About flippin' time. I VERY rarely buy/bought music from iTunes because of low, not even standard CD, quality.

I don't either, because if I'm paying the same I want uncompressed. So I buy CDs, import them into iTunes in Apple Lossless, and toss the disks in dark cabinets.

[wushuliu]

Not trying to stir the pot on this argument, but you realize that $5,000,000 is but a small blip on Apple's financial radar, right? Apple is the market leader regardless of small blips by Amazon, Pono, etc.

I stand-by what I said earlier regarding market trends. Apple didn't get where it is by playing catch-up with anyone. They, in fact, are the primary trend setter in the industry. Pono is doing nothing revolutionary. All they're doing is copying what Apple did over a decade ago, only they're doing it with high res DL's, not mp3's. If Apple provides high res DL's, it won't be because of pressure from anyone other than consumers.

Well this is the Apple Core so I'll just leave it at what I said.

[wushuliu]

What a waste. "Hi-rez" doesn't offer audible benefits, given the same master.

Don't you have anything better to do than to just troll from one thread to the other?

[Mike Nomad]

Probably. Current Audio MIDI configuration stuff only lets us push things out to 24/96.

Frankly, the audio move isn't surprising. They had to do something Hi-Something-ish: They continue to act as if Blu-ray doesn't exist, and you have to go to third-party outfits to do FLAC playback.

And that's the real question: What is the file format they are going to use for their Hi-Rez audio files? If it's not FLAC, they will continue to not get my money.

24/96 at a minimum?

http://www.macrumors.com/2014/04/10/high-definition-itunes-music-downloads/

[ctviggen]

Probably. Current Audio MIDI configuration stuff only lets us push things out to 24/96.

Frankly, the audio move isn't surprising. They had to do something Hi-Something-ish: They continue to act as if Blu-ray doesn't exist, and you have to go to third-party outfits to do FLAC playback.

And that's the real question: What is the file format they are going to use for their Hi-Rez audio files? If it's not FLAC, they will continue to not get my money.

Given Apple's propensity to like closed systems and digital rights management, the format will be closed or at least proprietary.   That's why I buy nothing from Apple. 

[scb]

Given Apple's propensity to like closed systems and digital rights management, the format will be closed or at least proprietary.   That's why I buy nothing from Apple.

There hasn't been DRM on iTunes store tracks in 5 years

[scb]

Riiight, they've been talking about this for several years and just hey decided now would be a good time. Nothing to do with Pono buzz pulling in $5,000,000 in a few days for a competing product.

If the rumors are true, it has absolutely nothing to do with the Pono. Products and announcements in Apple's pipeline are planned long in advance. You can't just scrape together something like high resolution files in the iTunes store in the few weeks since Pono went on Kickstarter and raised what amounts to an absolutely tiny number of dollars when compared to Apple's bottom line

[newzooreview]

Given Apple's propensity to like closed systems and digital rights management, the format will be closed or at least proprietary.   That's why I buy nothing from Apple.

The world inside your head is an interesting place. In the real world, Apple removed DRM from music in the iTunes Store in January 2009--that's more than 5 years ago.

You have it backwards when you seek to pin blame on hardware companies for attempts to restrict your rights to make backups and use your digital files flexibly. Attempts at restriction are forced by the publishers/studios. Despite every independent, peer-reviewed study showing that file sharing drives sales, the publishers and studios are still clinging to a false analysis.

[Mike Nomad]

There hasn't been DRM on iTunes store tracks in 5 years

That's an interesting idea: Active DRM vs. Passive DRM.

For an example of what I mean by Passive DRM:

1/ Copy any CD via iTunes;

2/ While in iTunes, look at the Comment area for the track(s) you just recorded (should be empty);

3/ Drop those same files into something like Media Rage, and look what shows up in the Comments area.

[newzooreview]

That's an interesting idea: Active DRM vs. Passive DRM.

For an example of what I mean by Passive DRM:

1/ Copy any CD via iTunes;

2/ While in iTunes, look at the Comment area for the track(s) you just recorded (should be empty);

3/ Drop those same files into something like Media Rage, and look what shows up in the Comments area.

I'm afraid you'll have to explain what you're seeing, because when I do as you describe I see nothing in the Comments section in iTunes or in Media Rage.

[BrystonNut]

Everyone seems to missing the point...hi-res does NOT mean good sound...what good is 24/192 files if they are brick walled?

I stopped buying from HDtracks for this reason...its not their fault...its the studio's crappy quality control...some guy in a room says hey by the way put that mix in 24/96 for the hi-res crowd...and make a mp3 download too...nothing to do with quality music...its all about raking in cashola.

Personally, if the music had a proper DR rating of at least 12 or higher THAT would get my purchase...proper mixing techniques leaving actual music in the mix is what we need...16 bits IS perfect sound forever...I have some CD's that are OUTSTANDING...mostly all the remasters suck badly...they're brick walled.


I am not saying ALL are bad...technicians try I am sure of it...the new BECK is brutal...digital releases are to the max...lifeless.



Apologies if I hijacked the thread but its sooo frustrating when people go on about hi-res...its a cash grab period...another way to reinvent the wheel.

[Mike Nomad]

I'm afraid you'll have to explain what you're seeing, because when I do as you describe I see nothing in the Comments section in iTunes or in Media Rage.

As I said, you should see nothing in iTunes. With Media Rage: A very long sequence of mostly numbers, broken into many groups. Most of the groups are the same across all the tracks from a particular CD. It's in the last couple of groups that they shift significantly, based on individual track numbers, and the number of discs in the set.

I get sequences generated even from ripping CD-Rs, where I have created the content.

(I forgot to add)

My experience has been the various components of MR don't all handle files the same way. The stuff I see in the Comment field is when using Media Scrubber.

(also edited the initial part of this post for clarity)

[Mike Nomad]

Apologies if I hijacked the thread but its sooo frustrating when people go on about hi-res...its a cash grab period...another way to reinvent the wheel.

Um, we are talking about aspects of the Music Business. It's never been about anything other than a cash grab. Usually at the expense of the artist. That's not to say that individuals don't try to make their little corners of Hell the best they can for artistic reasons rather than profit motivations. That said...

What frustrates me is people who go on about people not knowing how to record/master properly, and blame the format instead of the people.

There have been a number of posts about HDtracks over the last couple of years. Some of us went to the trouble of pulling tracks through Audacity, and posting the curves. Some of the releases where bad, others not. Just like all other aspects of the Music Business, it comes down to people, and the decisions they make. Re-invent the wheel? No. Turn the wheel? Yes.

[RDavidson]

Everyone seems to missing the point...hi-res does NOT mean good sound...

What you're saying goes pretty much without saying. One can dig thru a trash can and find pieces of what may have been gourmet food, chop it up into little pieces, make it look appetizing, and serve it on fine china, but it's still garbage.

[Juan Paulino]

This is awesome news!

[intermediatic]

I stand-by what I said earlier regarding market trends. Apple didn't get where it is by playing catch-up with anyone. They, in fact, are the primary trend setter in the industry.

Late to the game, but its actually more nuanced than that. On occasion Apple is a trendsetter (Macbook Air and ultrabooks, for example), but on the whole they are very good followers. The iPad, for example, came out long after the development of tablet computers. The first iPhone was much more limited than a five year old Treo in many ways (no App store, no aGPS geolocation). iTunes was not developed in house but rather a program called Soundjam that Apple purchased and while the iPod had a hard drive in it, there was a host of MP3 players available at the time. AppleTV is a perpetual laggard compared to Roku. When has Apple ever been at the cutting edge in hardware specs? In design yes, but hardware wise its rare. Sometimes these projects reek too clearly of  "me too," for example, iTunes Radio. In doing this, Apple partly seeks to identify crippling flaws in competing products and then react to them.   

Mind you,  I could easily be seen as an Applefanboy and own a good deal (by my standards anyway) of Apple stock, more than of any other firm. So I think that this strategy works, but I wanted to clear the air a little about this.

[planet10]

On occasion Apple is a trendsetter, but on the whole they are very good followers. The iPad, for example, came out long after the development of tablet computers. The first iPhone was much more limited than a five year old Treo in many ways (no App store, no aGPS geolocation). iTunes was not developed in house but rather a program called Soundjam that Apple purchased and while the iPod had a hard drive in it, there was a host of MP3 players available at the time...

What Apple is really good at is putting software on devices that are lagging in the market and boosts them into the stratosphere -- making these devices eminently usable. Taking all the pieces, even if they existed before, and putting them into a package that makes them elegantly usable.

dave

[RDavidson]

What Apple is really good at is putting software on devices that are lagging in the market and boosts them into the stratosphere -- making these devices eminently usable. Taking all the pieces, even if they existed before, and putting them into a package that makes them elegantly usable.

dave

Sort of right, and in essence this is why they are THE trendsetter in the market. They combine the software and hardware to work as a seamless whole. It isn't always about who comes out with the latest technology (ie is the most technologically innovative / inventive). It is about the company who takes technology and makes it work best for the intended user. No one does this or understands this concept better than Apple. To say Apple is a follower needs more explanation. They're a follower in terms of technology, BUT definitely not in terms of design or usability (ie the things that are important to pretty much all consumers, whether or not they understand the genius behind it).