You may not all like them but Apple could be about to do us all a favour...

[twelvebears]

http://www.slashgear.com/apple-considering-24-bit-ipoditunes-update-for-boosted-audio-quality-22135176/

YES PLEASE! Oh and a 24bit capable iPod thanks! :eek:

[The Vinyl Adventure]

It seems likely that a 24-bit catalog – whether from Apple or the other digital music vendors tipped to be interested – would end up costing a premium over the regular, lower-bitrate music currently on offer through iTunes. Whether users will pay that premium, or even notice the difference, remains to be seen; junking the shoddy bundled headphones Apple provides is a good place to start.

Ive been saying this will happen for years ...
Usually to crys of "it'll never happen" there is not enough audiophiles ...
Well you watch how many more audiophiles there are if apple make it a big thing
Nobody knew they wanted a hd tv until it was the thing to have ...
If the same happens to audio we will all be laughing!!

[SteveW]

http://blogs.linn.co.uk/giladt/2011/11/apple-opens-the-way-to-24-bit-itunes.php

[bobbasrah]

However encouraging this may be, there are a number of hurdles to get over, not least to establish a new customer base. Perhaps Apple's expertise from establishing Itunes will help the labels get out of their existing inertia, but a quick negotiation it will not be.

Apple are not going to convince their existing massive customer base to reverse their learned (and sold) expectations, encouraging the hardware manufacturing industry to upgrade player capability and storage capacity. The existing clientele will not be champing at the bit (sic) to dump their library (complete with attendant costs for rights etc) and player in favour of the latest 24bit download at increased cost/time for download and purchase of new hardware. The next generation, perhaps.

But there again, I never understood how they sold the idea of CD, VHS, and compact cassette at the time......

[twelvebears]

I've been think about the reasoning behind this apparent new direction by Apple and I have a couple of ideas:

1. Apple is always looking to be the one leading with 'The Next Big Thing', and having seen the massive succes of HD video, they may see this as an audio band-wagon equivalent. Yes we all know that unlike SD vs HD video, the Red Book vs High-Res difference isn't as slap-in-the-face obvious, but there are plenty of folks who just 'want the next best thing' regardless of whether their ears or systems are capable of making much of it.

2. Their all-seeing, consumer data gathering monster that is iTunes, must be telling them that there are lots of folks, even harden Apple product consumers like me (seriously, iMacs, MacBooks, MacMini, iPods coming out of our friggin' ears), who basically don't buy a damn thing off of iTunes but have a massive ripped music collection. They must have figured that the only chance they have to get their hands on some of my music cash is to offer me something BETTER than I can get from my current CD habit - i.e. high-res music.

Now the obvious down-side to anything Apple do is that the music is going to be DRM'd within an inch of it's life, so even when/if I buy it, I'm not really free to do what I want with it, which actually means I probably STILL won't use iTunes. But what I hope WILL happen if iTunes open the door, is that other providers will jump in and offer similar without DRM restrictions.

That's my thought/hope, but only time will tell.

If nothing else it should mean that there will soon be a 24bit capable iPod, so that will be handy.

[bobbasrah]

1. Apple is always looking to be the one leading with 'The Next Big Thing', and having seen the massive succes of HD video, they may see this as an audio band-wagon equivalent. Yes we all know that unlike SD vs HD video, the Red Book vs High-Res difference isn't as slap-in-the-face obvious, but there are plenty of folks who just 'want the next best thing' regardless of whether their ears or systems are capable of making much of it.

2. Their all-seeing, consumer data gathering monster that is iTunes, must be telling them that there are lots of folks, even harden Apple product consumers like me (seriously, iMacs, MacBooks, MacMini, iPods coming out of our friggin' ears), who basically don't buy a damn thing off of iTunes but have a massive ripped music collection. They must have figured that the only chance they have to get their hands on some of my music cash is to offer me something BETTER than I can get from my current CD habit - i.e. high-res music.

Now the obvious down-side to anything Apple do is that the music is going to be DRM'd within an inch of it's life, so even when/if I buy it, I'm not really free to do what I want with it, which actually means I probably STILL won't use iTunes. But what I hope WILL happen if iTunes open the door, is that other providers will jump in and offer similar without DRM restrictions.

If nothing else it should mean that there will soon be a 24bit capable iPod, so that will be handy.

1 - Agreed Steve, BUT, remember that the bulk of their customer base is on mp3, so the qualitative difference is sufficient to make it marketable. It seems unlikely that these existing customers will make the jump given that they have swallowed the lesser formats wholesale, and convincing them to abandon equipment and libraries is IMHO going to be a hard sell. Next gen customers perhaps (who are more savvy if the forums are anything to go by in regard to the merits of high quality audio) may provide a new customer base to gradually replace and absorb the old.
2 - There are many more less demanding customers out there which is keeping the whole venture buoyant. The DRM issue IIRC was an imposition by the labels rather than a choice, and you are probably correct in that it will resurface, but Apple will not be the only players looking at this you can be sure, even if they are high profile with credentials.:eyebrows:

What will be curious is whether the labels learned anything from the still rumbling upsampling scandal:steam:, and how long it takes the hardware side to gear up to sate the portable market demands.
Interesting times, LP->CD->mp3->?:mental:

[JJack]

This generation is all too happy to dump technology that is more than 15 minutes old, and immediately repurchase 90% of what they just dumped (that's why I've purchased 5 phones and 3 ipods for my teen; all of them worked perfectly fine when I "had" to buy new ones

And they've got disposable income.

[John]

I would be even happy if they just moved to no data reduction downloads

[bobbasrah]

And they've got disposable income.

Yep, yours......:eyebrows:

[Reid Malenfant]

<snip> This generation is all too happy to dump technology that is more than 15 minutes old, and immediately repurchase 90% of what they just dumped
Is it any wonder the planet is f*cked :doh:

Consumers, yep, they have the right name alright :eyebrows: They keep consuming & just throwing stuff away :rolleyes:

[bobbasrah]

I would be even happy if they just moved to no data reduction downloads

I presume you mean 16 bit John?
If so, I would agree entirely as it is long overdue. For one thing it would wipe out the current stupid marketing of music according to regions, at even a simplistic level such as buying irish or scots albums from england. In the day of the world wide web, special order album imports at premium prices should be a thing of the past.....:rolleyes:
Would save me lugging a massive suitcase on my rare visits over there, and running the roulette game of baggage handling too....:steam:

[John]

Yes just plain 16bit
It can also sound pretty good too

[webby]

This generation is all too happy to dump technology that is more than 15 minutes old, and immediately repurchase 90% of what they just dumped (that's why I've purchased 5 phones and 3 ipods for my teen; all of them worked perfectly fine when I "had" to buy new ones

And they've got disposable income.
Well, with respect jack, you are just encouraging that throw away society. You could just say no.