Today, there’s word that Apple is now accepting high-resolution music files for iTunes, perhaps in advance of selling music in such a format. Apple is asking sound engineers for 96 kHz, 24-bit WAV files, possibly to process it’s own “mastered for iTunes” versions, but also to perhaps start selling music in “better than CD quality” resolution and format.
The sound engineer that audio website Evolver quotes is Grammy-award-winner Tim Faulkner, one of the most respected classical music sound engineers around, with over 3500 recordings to his credit.
“My hopes rose when I was asked to remaster some of our past hi-res LSO [London Symphony Orchestra] Live recordings for iTunes,” said Faulkner in an email to audiophile site, Evolver. “They were originally recorded at 176k4 and iTunes asked for 96k/24 uncompressed wavs. So far they have only appeared as new ‘Mastered for iTunes’ lossy 44k1 downsamples.”
Audiophiles and the rest of us may wonder why the iPhone doesn’t already play these high-resolution sound files. According to the sound engineer, the higher amount of digital information that needs to be converted to audio eats up the battery life of modern devices like the iPhone way too fast.
Faulkner admits to hearing rumors about lossless and 96k downloads to begin appearing for sale in iTunes, but that the battery issues still abound. “Battery life of a cellphone should not uniquely define the parameters for the quality of the reproduction of music,” he said, “not in my book anyway.”
Perhaps the solution isn’t one to be found in the iPhone directly, says Evolver, but in an iPhone-controlled audio module. Regardless, until the battery issue is resolved, iPhones won’t be able to handle these high-resolution files. Computers, though, can, and perhaps that’s where we’ll see higher-resolution iTunes audio first.
Artists like Neil Young, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Jackson Browne, and Crosby, Stills, & Nash are all putting out high-resolution audio with an audio platform called Orastream, which points to the artists, at least, working with technologies to make digital music sound better. Neil Young is a huge proponent of high-resolution audio, pushing a standalone device called the Pono Player.
Do music fans really care? Not all of them, of course. But enough, perhaps, to make high-resolution audio a priority, perhaps even at Apple. What do you think? Let us know in the comments below.
Source: Evolver
Rob LeFebvre is an Anchorage, Alaska-based writer and editor who has contributed to various tech, gaming and iOS sites, including 148Apps, Creative Screenwriting, Shelf-Awareness, VentureBeat, and Paste Magazine. Feel free to find Rob on Twitter @roblef, and send him a cookie once in a while; he’ll really appreciate it.
9 responses to “Apple Accepting High-Resolution Music for iTunes, Says Sound Engineer [Report]”
Perhaps it will be for the streaming service that is rumored. Don’t forget, the AppleTV has a Toslink output as well as HDMI
Oh, the irony of Neil Young, fragile voice and grunge guitar notwithstanding, being a “huge proponent of high-resolution audio.” Exact representation of fecal matter is generally of little interest to anyone except biologists, and dogs.
Please let this be true. Like many people I’ve been waiting for this ever since iTunes first appeared. It seems like every 6 months or so a report like this appears to get my hopes up and then sadly nothing ever comes of it. Like most audiophiles I have not and will not buy any music whatsoever from iTunes until they start selling high quality lossless tracks. Given that people like me seem to be the only ones actually buying music and CDs now rather than simply renting it through streaming services I would say that we represent a reasonable market size.
Battery life of a cellphone should not uniquely define the parameters for the quality of the reproduction of music” – well that just throws the basic purpose of a smartphone out the window. While it’s good for Mac iTunes downloads, the high-res thing for smartphones is still quite far. We’ve clogged them with too many other features that eat up the battery already.
Actually, it makes a hell of a lot of sense !
First, in iTunes, you can always setup your music to be compressed on your iDevices to the size YOU think is big enough for the quality you need.
Second, we should have in iTunes the highest quality music as possible.
Starting with these 2 ideas, one can hope that as time goes on some of the following will happen :
a) Battery life will increase (that might not happen without a revolution in battery technology OR a revolution in component consumption of energy).
b) Better compression algorithm might come out and give you better sound/music restitution for the same rate selected in iTunes for your iDevices.
Next, I have to add that an iDevice is for moving about, so you don’t really control the environment in which you listen to music with your iDevice. Therefore, the difference between a full 96 KHz/24 bits track and the same at 192 Kbps or even 256 Kbps will be loss with all the exterior sound.
On the other hand, at home, you control a lot more the environment, and there a full 96 Kbps/ 24 bit track will be much more appreciated, and often you have the music system to play it on too.
Great if Apple comes out with Studio Master quality tracks, specially for Classical music enthousiats. I might just finally sign-up for iTunes Match !
Cheers,
Ritchie
If they actually start selling Lossless files, I’d actually start purchasing music from iTunes. I currently still purchase CDs so that I have the ability to rip them at the quality I desire.
This is something I’ve been waiting for for quite some time now. I’m an audiophile, and rip my CD’s in 44k1 16bit (1411kbps) WAV. That’s the exact same amount of information as on the CD. An increase in quality is certainly welcome, especially compared to the 256kbps AAC files from iTunes. Having these high quality tracks on iTunes would be great. It’ll kill the last reason I have to use the optical drive.
iPhones already play lossless files and even better than lossless files. They won’t play 96kHz files, but they will play 48 KHz 24 bit files, which are substantially better than CD, and enormously better than iTunes AAC files.
Sadly, I have to buy 24 bit files elsewhere and then convert them to ALAC. It would be great if I could buy them in iTunes. And it would be great if the sample rate could go up to 96 KHz (or 192 KHz).
I could care less about battery life. I can always switch to charging on a long drive and listen to a CD for an hour (or charge simultaneously using a ground loop isolator – though this seems to lower sound quality). If I’m listening through home audio equipment, the phone can charge and play simultaneously without any sound degradation.
The iPhone is an astonishing high fidelity piece of equipment, simply because it contains a hard drive that can hold 24 bit lossless audio files. I seriously hope this rumour pans out.
If you are looking for LSO recordings in 24 bit that you can play on your iPhone, it already exists, and reasonably priced: http://www.bowers-wilkins.com/Society_of_Sound/Overview.html
This same club offers a fascinating collection of incredible (and incredibly recorded) music from around the world, curated by Peter Gabriel. My iPhone is full of their music at 24 bit, and it sounds phenomenal.
Why give Apple high resolution lossless files just so they can squash the dynamics right out of them. WHen I see “mastered for iTunes” I know it means dynamically lifeless music, just like the RHCP’s last album “I’m With You” which had three masterings, vinyl, CD and iTunes. The vinyl sadly was just as dynamically challenged as the CD and the iTunes. Rubbish!