Itunes is going away??

[steve149]

What format do they download to, and can you play them without an Internet connection?

I believe they are in a special DRM protected format .. playable only by the Spotify app or by the Algoriddim DJ apps (for now). They can be played without internet access, but you need to sync with the internet monthly to be able to play them (verifies Premium account status).

 

[DJ Bobcat]

I believe they are in a special DRM protected format .. playable only by the Spotify app or by the Algoriddim DJ apps (for now). They can be played without internet access, but you need to sync with the internet monthly to be able to play them (verifies Premium account status).

Yep... That’s what I thought. Just wanted to confirm that they had not changed.[emoji4]


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[steve149]

Yep... That’s what I thought. Just wanted to confirm that they had not changed.[emoji4]


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There are 3rd party downloaders that will save songs off as MP3s .. similar to the YouTube downloaders. No idea what quality you get.

 

[DJ Bobcat]

There are 3rd party downloaders that will save songs off as MP3s .. similar to the YouTube downloaders. No idea what quality you get.

Not saying I’ve ever done it, but if I had they’d be 256 kbit/s... Same as iTunes downloads.[emoji4]


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[steve149]

Not saying I’ve ever done it, but if I had they’d be 256 kbit/s... Same as iTunes downloads.[emoji4]


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ITunes downloads are AAC, which is a better coding mechanism than MP3, so the 256K iTunes files are on par with any 320K MP3. I convert them (or did, as I haven't bought from them in years) only to make them more compatible.

And for those that didn't know, iTunes files haven't had DRM in almost a decade, so they are playable and convertable to anything.

 

[DJ Bobcat]

ITunes downloads are AAC, which is a better coding mechanism than MP3, so the 256K iTunes files are on par with any 320K MP3. I convert them (or did, as I haven't bought from them in years) only to make them more compatible.

And for those that didn't know, iTunes files haven't had DRM in almost a decade, so they are playable and convertable to anything.

Amazon sells songs in the MP3 format if you choose (and I usually do) with a 256 kbit/s variable bit-rate, iTunes songs are encoded 256 kbit/s AAC streams in an mp4 wrapper, using the .m4a extension.

AAC was devised as the successor to the MP3 standard. It achieves better sound quality than the MP3 format when compared at the same bit-rate.

I can convert the MP4 file to MP3, but it’s just another step I prefer to skip. I can pretty much convert any audio format to any other (and most video formats too). I find myself using all the capabilities I have on my computer less and less with each passing year. Pretty soon, I’ll just be an Internet (browser) surfer.[emoji1]

 

[steve149]

Amazon sells songs in the MP3 format if you choose (and I usually do) with a 256 kbit/s variable bit-rate, iTunes songs are encoded 256 kbit/s AAC streams in an mp4 wrapper, using the .m4a extension.

AAC was devised as the successor to the MP3 standard. It achieves better sound quality than the MP3 format when compared at the same bit-rate.

I can convert the MP4 file to MP3, but it’s just another step I prefer to skip. I can pretty much convert any audio format to any other (and most video formats too). I find myself using all the capabilities I have on my computer less and less with each passing year. Pretty soon, I’ll just be an Internet (browser) surfer.[emoji1]

Using the iTunes app (as opposed to the store), it's easy to find all AAC files and convert with a single mouse click. I also convert any MP3 variable bit rate files, since a few apps have a hard time with the variable rate (which was a help back when storage space was expensive). I remember my first digital player .. a Diamond Rio that had 32Mb of storage .. man you had to use any tools available to even get an album on there.

 

[DJ Bobcat]

Using the iTunes app (as opposed to the store)...

See... there’s the rub.[emoji1]... I have iTunes phobia, so I try never to use it if at all possible. I only have it installed on one of my many computers because it’s like an insidious virus, and worms it’s way too deeply into your computer’s registry and inner workings.[emoji1]

 

[steve149]

See... there’s the rub.[emoji1]... I have iTunes phobia, so I try never to use it if at all possible. I only have it installed on one of my many computers because it’s like an insidious virus, and worms it’s way too deeply into your computer’s registry and inner workings.[emoji1]

There's a pill for that ...

 

[DJ Bobcat]

There's a pill for that ...

Seriously though, while I’d prefer 320Kbit/s, 256Kbit/s is fine. When I rip my own MP3’s, I rip them to 320Kbit/s, and of course I get 320’s from my DJ pool (same one as yours). For my own personal listening, I can’t really tell much difference between 128Kbit/s and 320Kbit/s. Some claim they can hear the difference... OK.[emoji1]


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[steve149]

Seriously though, while I’d prefer 320Kbit/s, 256Kbit/s is fine. When I rip my own MP3’s, I rip them to 320Kbit/s, and of course I get 320’s from my DJ pool (same one as yours). For my own personal listening, I can’t really tell much difference between 128Kbit/s and 320Kbit/s. Some claim they can hear the difference... OK.[emoji1]


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I agree .. 256K and up for PA work is basically the same. On a higher end HiFi system, you can tell a little with stuff like acoustic guitar or horns .. but for most listening, no one will hear the difference.

I still have a few 128K songs in my library from the earlier days. Those you CAN tell a difference.

I still plan to re-rip my CDs to FLAC or AIFF or similar .. just because.

 

[Jeff Romard]

Seriously though, while I’d prefer 320Kbit/s, 256Kbit/s is fine. When I rip my own MP3’s, I rip them to 320Kbit/s, and of course I get 320’s from my DJ pool (same one as yours). For my own personal listening, I can’t really tell much difference between 128Kbit/s and 320Kbit/s. Some claim they can hear the difference... OK.[emoji1]

Due to space limitations like most I ripped to 128 when I first started ripping. Now there's really no reason to. I can hear a difference between 128 and 320 but 256 and 320 I can't. On a pro system I find it hard to tell the difference in anything 128 or higher

 

[ittigger]

I have iTunes phobia ... because it’s like an insidious virus, and worms it’s way too deeply into your computer’s registry and inner workings.

Because nothing else on Windows worms its way deeply into the registry and inner workings?

 

[DJ Bobcat]

Because nothing else on Windows worms its way deeply into the registry and inner workings?

Have you ever counted the number of registry entries associated with iTunes???... Me neither, but it’s a lot!!![emoji1]


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[ittigger]

Have you ever counted the number of registry entries associated with iTunes???... Me neither, but it’s a lot!!!

Have you ever counted the entries with any other product? It's also alot. When you remove a product from Windows, do you think it ever really goes away?

 

[DJ Bobcat]

Have you ever counted the entries with any other product?

Not many... but not many were attempting to take over my PC like iTunes did. It doesn’t just uninstall. It keeps its evil little tentacles attached to your operating system until you manually eradicate the entries from your registry... and there’s a billion (ok, maybe not a billion) of them.[emoji1]


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[ittigger]

Adobe has tons - upon tons. AutoCAD, tons! McAfee and Norton are the worst! I think they ARE viruses in disguise. Internet Explorer - forget it, there's that many. MS Office - seriously?

 

[DJ Bobcat]

Adobe has tons - upon tons. AutoCAD, tons! McAfee and Norton are the worst! I think they ARE viruses in disguise. Internet Explorer - forget it, there's that many. MS Office - seriously?

Yep... McAfee and Norton are BAD too. I’d NEVER put either of those on one of my PC’s either.[emoji1]

Internet Explorer???... Kind of a different animal. It’s a little more understandable why it’s so tightly intertwined with Windows.

 

[andywilson]

You can download in M4A, 320k MP3 or other - how is this 'generally crap'? As for a player, it plays whatever the quality of the file you tell it to play.

Maybe i just had a bad run with it, though its doubtful as I am very picky regarding audio quality. I purchased over 500 songs over the years and always found the audio quality pretty poor, especially in the upper frequency spectrum. Maybe they are not using good "ripping" software to convert to the various formats.Or it could be their source material, though i doubt it as i have ended up buying the CD and noticed the lossiness of the itunes format.

Everytime you convert from one format to another you will lose something in the conversion ex MP4 to MP3 etc. Unless converting to WAV which is lossless.
These days i rip everything in WAV

 

[dunlopj]

You can download up to 10,000 songs and must go online once every 30 days to keep them there.

That sounds like a PIA. If I didn't already OWN (purchased) 24,000 tracks, I'd be tempted to go to Spotify.

But it's be a major time consuming effort to replicate as much of my library as possible....