Think twice before purchasing lossless files online

[Richard Pryor]

Hi guys. I hate to be the bearer of bad news but here it goes.

Few nights ago I met with an old friend at a bar. This is a guy who was big on music in high school. Huge vinyl collection, always purchased CD’s, etc. We started talking and after a while I asked him about his awesome vinyl collection and his take on digital music.

He tells me he has a side gig with apple and hd tracks. He says he provides them with music. He charges apple $2.88 (or $1.88 maybe?) per CD and HD tracks $2.79. They make him digitally sign some documents after he rips a certain amount of CD’s (apple after 25 i think and HD tracks after 10, with the list of albums he has ripped).

He says that since they have most stuff digitalized already, he provides them with lists every month of stuff he thinks they might be interested (imports, OOP sets, box sets). He said they’re rarely interested in new releases (maybe they do them in-house?).

So I asked him what program he uses to rip, which settings, blah blah. He tells me basically he rips using EAC burst mode and that 50% of the time he copies the mp3’s he got from Napster (or other trackers) to a CD-RW and then rips them to FLAC and/or other lossless format (don’t remember the name). He said neither apple nor hd tracks asks him for the log, cue, or anything. He said they did at first (during his trial period which lasted I don’t remember how many months) but not anymore.

Basically he said that new albums are ok to download (if you don’t mind burst mode) but anything released more than 5 years ago… well who knows. Hopefully it’s not him that is ripping them.

This is really troublesome. I don’t think I trust any company offering lossless music online anymore unless they provide the log, md5, cue and the files match CUEdatabase checksum. Otherwise I might as well be listening to mp3’s copied to CD-R then ripped to FLAC. Basically it’s like taking a picture (JPEG, not even RAW), printing it, scanning the picture and you get the end result.

He says he knows one more person doing this and employed by amazon. He doesn’t know how much amazon pays. He tried amazon but they didn’t need him.

Very concerning IMO. I don’t know about you guys but I’m not paying for a lossless file of a badly compressed lossy copy.

[mozes]

What!!! This is a disaster!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Computer Audiophile

[wgscott]

As Abraham Lincoln recently tweeted, you can't believe everything you read on the internet.

 

OTOH, it would explain a few things ...

[firedog]

Don't believe a word of the OP.

 

Doesn't pass the "smell test". All of that would be easy to pickup, even with simple analysis by an "Audacity Cowboy" (sorry Bill, couldn't resist, wasn't directing the comment at you).

 

If you believe the OP, I have a bridge in Brooklyn I will sell you cheap....

[OneHandWaving]

So Apple and HD Tracks are both illegally buying ripped CDs from someone? Somehow I doubt that.

 

Maybe you should have saved that one for the 1st of April.

[wwaldmanfan]

When I read the thread title, I thought the OP was going to tell us that the music download services are selling dynamic range-crushed and brickwalled digital masters as "high-res", as if that would make them more listenable, like we didn't already know that.

I found the bar story more interesting. What were you guys drinking, anyway?

[Paul R]

Time warp - it must be 01 April 2017.... (grin)

 

-Paul

[mansr]

Time warp - it must be 01 April 2017.... (grin)

 

-Paul

More like 2003.

[Richard Pryor]

He never implied that apple and hd tracks were using the music illegally. I'm sure they are not. They probably pay for special licenses so they can sell the music. That's why my friend provides them with lists and signs those documents.

 

I just wrote both companies asking if they can provide EAC logs for the albums I buy from them. I'll let you know what they reply.

 

It's pretty simple in my opinion. Current tools allow you to verify 1) if the cd was ripped with secure mode and 2) if the checksum/code/cue or whatever it's called corresponds to that CD in the cue database. That would prevent what my friend is doing.

[mansr]

HDtracks sells files provided by the labels, not CD rips from random people on the internet.

[wgscott]

But wait. Isn't this forum supposed to be a safe space where everyone's anecdotal reports have equal validity and merit, whether they be from a professional providing careful measurements, or an anonymous internet observer who uses the name of an inflammatory comedian?

[kumakuma]

Story makes no sense at all considering that HDTracks focuses on high resolution music (the "HD" part of their name ), not CD quality. They do sell a few 16/44.1 albums but certainly not the stuff mentioned ("imports, OOP sets, box sets").

[wgscott]

All of that would be easy to pickup, even with simple analysis by an "Audacity Cowboy" (sorry Bill, couldn't resist, wasn't directing the comment at you).

 

Maybe Bruce created a sock-puppet account.

[wgscott]

Story makes no sense at all considering that HDTracks focuses on high resolution music (the "HD" part of their name ), not CD quality. They do sell a few 16/44.1 albums but certainly not the stuff mentioned ("imports, OOP sets, box sets").

 

Don't forget all the upsampled ones.

[Jud]

But wait. Isn't this forum supposed to be a safe space where everyone's anecdotal reports have equal validity and merit, whether they be from a professional providing careful measurements, or an anonymous internet observer who uses the name of an inflammatory comedian?

 

Shouldn't that be "inflammable comedian"?

[Jud]

HDtracks sells files provided by the labels, not CD rips from random people on the internet.

 

There's a difference?

[mansr]

There's a difference?

Why would anyone go through the trouble of ripping CDs when they already have the digital masters? Also, CD rips are certainly not high-res.

[Jud]

Why would anyone go through the trouble of ripping CDs when they already have the digital masters? Also, CD rips are certainly not high-res.

 

 

I was not being serious. Sorry for not including a "winkie," but it's sort of like laughing at your own jokes.

[rwwjr44]

What is the OPs handle? RICHARD PRYOR? HaHaHa.

 

Mr. Pryor,

 

If this is your real name, please accept my apology but...

 

Bob

[esldude]

When I read the thread title, I thought the OP was going to tell us that the music download services are selling dynamic range-crushed and brickwalled digital masters as "high-res", as if that would make them more listenable, like we didn't already know that.

I found the bar story more interesting. What were you guys drinking, anyway?

 

Just going by the user name they only stopped by the bar for some vodka to be used in the freebasing going on when this story was concocted.

 

Of course thinking of the gig, ripping CDs for $2.88 each. You could make a living doing it, but it would be a pretty miserable daily experience. I'd end up in a bar too.

[Ralf11]

Don't believe a word of the OP.

 

Doesn't pass the "smell test". ....

 

you can smell lossless files??

[mansr]

you can smell lossless files??

 

No, but I can smell bullshit, and there more than a whiff of it here.

[miguelito]

This is completely and utterly retarded. It makes absolutely no sense. Apple bothers to go to some schmuck to get files ripped? Nonesense!

[miguelito]

He never implied that apple and hd tracks were using the music illegally. I'm sure they are not. They probably pay for special licenses so they can sell the music. That's why my friend provides them with lists and signs those documents.

 

I just wrote both companies asking if they can provide EAC logs for the albums I buy from them. I'll let you know what they reply.

 

It's pretty simple in my opinion. Current tools allow you to verify 1) if the cd was ripped with secure mode and 2) if the checksum/code/cue or whatever it's called corresponds to that CD in the cue database. That would prevent what my friend is doing.

Lets step back for a minute... We are even entertaining the idea that a company with a market cap of 738 BILLION dollars is hiring some schmuck too rip CDs for them? Really? Seriously? Fer sure? GOOOOOOOOOODDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD!!!!

[Jud]

This is completely and utterly retarded. It makes absolutely no sense. Apple bothers to go to some schmuck to get files ripped? Nonesense!

 

Exactly. Everyone knows they can get minors in South Asian countries to rip their files for much less.