iTunes Match -- What am I missing

[Robert Peirce]

I read an article about iTunes Match in MacWorld and they said it was
possible to "upgrade" your tunes to 256 kbps. My CD downloads are
already 1411 (although I made the error of storing the early ones as aif
instead of m4a) and I have some 96/24 stuff that is 2600+. Is 256
correct or do they mean 2560? If 256, what the heck would that be?

[Bob Marcus]

On Feb 10, 1:51=A0pm, Robert Peirce > wrote:
> I read an article about iTunes Match in MacWorld and they said it was
> possible to "upgrade" your tunes to 256 kbps. My CD downloads are
> already 1411 (although I made the error of storing the early ones as aif
> instead of m4a) and I have some 96/24 stuff that is 2600+. Is 256
> correct or do they mean 2560? If 256, what the heck would that be?

What you're missing is that iTunes Match is not putting your music on
Apple's servers. It is allowing your devices access to Apple's copy of
any music that you legitimately own. And its copy is 256 kbps AAC. So
that's all you get.

IOW, it gives you anywhere access to any song you own, which is great
for people whose music collection exceeds their device's storage. And
the sonic hit is pretty benign. If you want higher resolution on you
iPhone or whatever, you'll have to put it on the device yourself.

bob

[Audio Empire]

On Fri, 10 Feb 2012 10:51:06 -0800, Robert Peirce wrote
(in article >):

> I read an article about iTunes Match in MacWorld and they said it was
> possible to "upgrade" your tunes to 256 kbps. My CD downloads are
> already 1411 (although I made the error of storing the early ones as aif
> instead of m4a) and I have some 96/24 stuff that is 2600+. Is 256
> correct or do they mean 2560? If 256, what the heck would that be?
>

At the present time, iTunes by itself does not support anything higher than
16-bit, 44.1 KHz and it supports 192 kbps as the default MP3 setting. BUT, if
you select "custom" under the MP3 import option in iTunes Preferences, it
will rip stereo MP3s at up to 320 mbps. To select other sample rates
including 256 mbps, double click on the "custom" selection from the pop-up
menu (when MP3 is selected as the ripping format) and the "custom" dialog box
will appear. From that you can select the stereo bit-rate, you can also
choose variable bit rate, and VBR quality (from normal all the way to
"highest"), etc. Click on "OK" to save changes and then you can quit
preferences.

This, of course, only applies to files you rip yourself, not those purchased
from the iTunes store.

If you want to support high-resolution audio from other download sources,
you'll need a helper app like Amarra. There are rumors that Apple is working
on a hi-res version of iTunes to go with an expanded hi-res music service
from the iTunes store. But, that's just a rumor.

[Robert Peirce]

In article >,
Audio Empire > wrote:

> On Fri, 10 Feb 2012 10:51:06 -0800, Robert Peirce wrote
> (in article >):
>
> > I read an article about iTunes Match in MacWorld and they said it was
> > possible to "upgrade" your tunes to 256 kbps. My CD downloads are
> > already 1411 (although I made the error of storing the early ones as aif
> > instead of m4a) and I have some 96/24 stuff that is 2600+. Is 256
> > correct or do they mean 2560? If 256, what the heck would that be?
> >
>
> At the present time, iTunes by itself does not support anything higher than
> 16-bit, 44.1 KHz and it supports 192 kbps as the default MP3 setting. BUT, if
> you select "custom" under the MP3 import option in iTunes Preferences, it
> will rip stereo MP3s at up to 320 mbps.

I discover you can also select custom under AIFF and get some very high
rates. I am already doing 44.1/16 for CDs. I have to re-download some
96/24 WAV files and see if I can convert them.

It turns out Apple has AIFC, but it really isn't compressed. It is just
reverse bit AIF. I didn't know that so I tried to avoid using it.

I also discovered the iTunes released with 10.7 seems to have had
different defaults or it reset the defaults I was using. At any rate,
instead of 1411 (44.1X16X2) I was getting 256(VBR).

[Robert Peirce]

In article >,
Robert Peirce > wrote:

> I discover you can also select custom under AIFF and get some very high
> rates. I am already doing 44.1/16 for CDs. I have to re-download some
> 96/24 WAV files and see if I can convert them.
>
> It turns out Apple has AIFC, but it really isn't compressed. It is just
> reverse bit AIF. I didn't know that so I tried to avoid using it.
>
> I also discovered the iTunes released with 10.7 seems to have had
> different defaults or it reset the defaults I was using. At any rate,
> instead of 1411 (44.1X16X2) I was getting 256(VBR).

And Apple Lossless seems to preserve 96/24. However, just to be sure, I
am preserving the original 96/24 wAV files.