# Bad quality iTunes music?



## DoNotPokeTheScreen (Jun 9, 2005)

I bought my first song on iTunes. It turns out the song downloaded is in "Protected ACC" format. Is this inferior to Apple Lossless?

Shouldn't they be selling them in format equvalent to CD quality?

Thanks


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## harrytse (Nov 3, 2005)

yes as a lossy format it is inferior to apple lossless, if it were apple lossless the file size would be far larger compared to aac. 

http://www.apple.com/quicktime/technologies/aac/

to untrained ears, it's CD or CD-like quality.


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## Commodus (May 10, 2005)

It's not hard to find that Apple's songs are sold at 128 Kbps protected AAC. Don't buy blind! 

And obviously, it's inferior to Apple Lossless (ALAC for short), but there's no big shock as to why: the files take up huge amounts of space relative to more typical compression ratios (a full CD in ALAC is around 300-350 MB). Apple wouldn't get very far if it advertised a 4 GB nano as holding 12 albums!

I do think Apple should sell higher-quality songs (192 Kbps would be more reasonable), but ultimately the store is for a convenient way to feed the iPod and iTunes. If you want flawless encoding, you're probably willing to buy the physical album anyways.


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## guytoronto (Jun 25, 2005)

128 AAC is fine for most people (cue audiophile flame war).

If you want CD quality, you have to buy the physical CD.


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## DoNotPokeTheScreen (Jun 9, 2005)

Thanks guy.

This is weird. Music downloaded from Limewire has higher bitrate (quality) than music purchased through iTunes Music Store. :/


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## djstp (Mar 10, 2006)

DoNotPokeTheScreen said:


> Thanks guy.
> 
> This is weird. Music downloaded from Limewire has higher bitrate (quality) than music purchased through iTunes Music Store. :/



limewire's content consists mainly of music that has been encoded by the user.
most people know that a much richer sounding file happens at a higher bit rate


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## Tiranis (Jun 19, 2005)

DoNotPokeTheScreen said:


> Thanks guy.
> 
> This is weird. Music downloaded from Limewire has higher bitrate (quality) than music purchased through iTunes Music Store. :/


But that song from Limewire wouldn't be legal, would it? :yikes:



DoNotPokeTheScreen said:


> Shouldn't they be selling them in format equvalent to CD quality?


No, they shouldn't. You get what you paid for and it's clearly stated what you get, with all the limitations it involves.  Still, hopefully Apple will make 192 Kbps option available one day… although I'm not getting my hopes up.


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## iMatt (Dec 3, 2004)

DoNotPokeTheScreen said:


> Shouldn't they be selling them in format equvalent to CD quality?


To add to what others have said, iTMS is not really competing with CDs, IMO. It's more an alternative to p2p with its uncertainty, hit-and-miss selection, slower downloads and illegality. The price you're paying is for convenience, not quality (although I think the quality is reasonable if you're not an audiophile with sensitive, well-trained ears).


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## kent (Oct 18, 2003)

iMatt said:


> To add to what others have said, iTMS is not really competing with CDs, IMO. It's more an alternative to p2p with its uncertainty, hit-and-miss selection, slower downloads and illegality. The price you're paying is for convenience, not quality (although I think the quality is reasonable if you're not an audiophile with sensitive, well-trained ears).



I agree ... 

I'm not a huge fan of iTunes Music Store because I think the quality is poor [fine for iPod, but when played on a decent stereo, the compression becomes apparent] and I CANNOT stand DRM. The dreaded "this computer is not authorized to play this music" strikes a nerve. CDs for me ... I can choose the quality of the rip and I have a back-up. Plus, while the store is expanding daily, the selection is limited in many areas.


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## dona83 (Jun 26, 2005)

I think I have pretty well trained ears, I can hear artifacts in even 192kbps recordings and even hear the limitations of 16 bit-44khz CDs. I just buy from iTunes Music Store just for the convenience.


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## Guest (Mar 26, 2006)

It all comes down to what you're listening on though. If you're listening through laptop speakers then for the most part the artifacts are not going ot be prominant. If you're listening through good quality headphones or speakers they will be. If you're listening through reference monitors then all the lossy formats are very noticable, even the higher bitrate stuff. On good reference minotrs, listening to CD"s I regularly hear things either in the mix (or things not intentionally in the mix) that I've never noticed before, even with good headphones.

It's like beauty, but in this case it's in the ear of the beholder.

I personally don't buy much stuff from ITMS. I don't buy much in the way of new CD's either .. I spend most of my budget for music in used CD shops.


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