Music downloads have been around for a while now. Apple has sold over one billion songs through its iTunes store. Amazon has recently joined the party by offering songs at twice the bit rate of typical iTunes downloads. Some of the traditional record labels are also vying for the remaining pennies of your disposable income by offering 320kbps DRM-Free downloads. These options combined offer most of the popular artists one would find in a local record store, but none of them are aimed at the audiophile community. Fortunately the best is yet to come for audiophiles seeking everything from 16 bit / 44.1 kHz material all the way to 24 bit / 192 kHz and everything in between. Let's take a look at some of the download sites Computer Audiophile readers will enjoy.
The HDTracks Audiophile 24/96 store will officially open Thursday October 2nd! However, if you're a registered user of Computer Audiophile HDTracks has a little treat for you. Read more for all the details.
Reference Recordings has released two additional HRx titles! Shakespeare's TEMPEST (RR-115 HRx) and Exotic Dances from the Opera (RR-71 HRx). The release of Exotic Dances provides a very unique opportunity for audiophiles. Well, the opportunity has just about come to fruition. The 16/44.1 and 24/176.4 versions of Exotic Dances are available now and there will soon be a 24/96 version available (hint, hint). This will allow everyone with a capable DAC to test for themselves the sonic differences between 16/44.1, 24/96 and 24/176.4.
A few Computer Audiophile readers have frustratingly stumbled upon the iTunes 24 bit AIFF Album Art issue. Fortunately most of the readers don’t even know about the issue. All the details have yet to be fleshed out as there is no official written document from Apple mentioning the issue. Here is what I know at the time of this writing. Every version of iTunes subsequent to 7.62 will not support album art with new 24 bit AIFF files. iTunes version 7.62 fully supports album art with new 24 bit AIFF files. The issue is certainly not new but as more high resolution downloads become available the issue will become more prominent.
The very cool Norwegian website 2L is offering more high resolution content. If you haven't browsed the site yet I highly recommend it. In addition to Marianne Thorsen / TrondheimSolistene in full stereo and 5.1 surround at 24/192, 2L is offering a download of the first Bluray Audio album. No need to purchase a Bluray player when you can just download the content! Checkout the album booklet for some detailed information about high resolution audio from 2L.
Hey guys if you haven't been over to the High Definition Tape Transfers site recently I suggest you click on over there. HDTT has, "...introduced a new download site that has many improvements including making your own user account so you can redownload your purchases at any time, secure online checkout, more reliable downloading, and better navigation..." Says Bob over at HDTT.
The topic of converting files has been popular lately. The most recent request in to Computer Audiophile is for instructions to convert DRM-Free SuperHD downloads from MusicGiants so they work in iTunes on a Mac. Standard MusicGiants HD downloads are easy to convert. Add them to your iTunes library and they'll convert on the fly. What's different about the SuperHD content? These albums have much higher resolution such as 24 bit / 88.2 kHz or 24/96. Most conversion methods downsample the files to 16 bit / 44.1 kHz, thus negating the reason most people purchase SuperHD content. The conversion method outlined in this article is so easy you won't believe it. If you know how to double-click you're in luck. Read more for all the details.
It's not often that I purchase something sight unseen. Purchasing music is a completely different story however. Tonight I finally got around to downloading the new Walter Becker album Circus Money. I hadn't heard a single note of this album before purchasing the FLAC download. I took an educated guess that I would like the music and that the recording quality would be excellent. Well I'm two for two on this one! Read more for a little information on the release and some screenshots from the whole download experience from Walter's website.
Alright guys, I promised some good news so here it is! The HDtracks Ultimate Download Experience is now live. They are now offering an amazing complimentary, DRM-free, album download to help demonstrate how you can “hear the difference” with HDtracks, and provide a first-hand look at what makes HDtracks releases different from typical music download services. read more for all the details!
Hey guys this is just a heads-up to keep your eyes open around here this afternoon. HDtracks is going to have an announcement that I'm sure you'll enjoy. I'll post the details simultaneously with the official press release. Think free stuff, good music, and high quality :-)
