Nerds: School Me

[Anubis]

I don't want to buy CDs any more. Is there a legit source for very high quality downloads? What format?

olds, HDtracks.com is pretty much your only bet for really high quality downloads. the downside is they dont offer everything. its a limited selection of music

amazon and google let you download decent quality mp3s but they are still mp3s

just keep buying CDs and ripping them as FLAC or whatever loseless format you want. its what i do and i am very much a nerd

edit. actually bandcamp also has FLAC downloads but its more for new indy bands

 

[Tim]

If you want to go a different route, go with Spotify premium. It streams at 320kbps, and you have access to an amazingly huge library. You can also make playlist and listen to 320kbps quality offline. They stream in an ogg vorbis format, it that matters to you at all.

 

[shortylickens]

How so? Hard drives are in the terabytes!

Honestly, OP, I buy CDs and rip them to wav for computer or headphone use. Otherwise, I use the CD in my stereo's cd player. I've had to many instances of downloading mp3 files only for them to develop some sort of audible pop, crack, or other defect; or simply get corrupted.

The level of quality is related to your end use. If used with inexpensive headphones or ear buds in a casual setting, or in typical car scenarios, or background music, you can get away with pretty low quality like 256 kbps mp3 or even 128. Amazon is pretty decent for this if you don't want to use iTunes (can't blame ya).

It would take all week to download a terabyte.

 

[mnewsham]

It would take all week to download a terabyte.

and that's assuming around 40-50Mb/s download speed.

 

[ZaneNBK]

That used to be one of the better things about allofmp3.com back in the day. Choose whatever encoding and bitrate you like including lossless.

Of course the price was also nice, average of $0.10-0.15 per song depending on the size of the encoded file IIRC.

 

[JimKiler]

iTunes is AAC, not MP3, so it should be higher quality.

iTunes has been 256kbps for several years now. And it's AAC rather than MP3, so technically it's of higher quality (not that very many people can tell the difference).

Best answer right there.

I read on the internet that both MP3 and AAC at high quality +128bit are nearly identical, where the codecs really show differences is with the low bitrate stuff under 128kbps.

 

[Krazy4Real]

amazon is the easiest.

 

[DaveSimmons]

iTunes is AAC, not MP3, so it should be higher quality.

In my totally unscientific testing, 160 kbps AAC was as good as 192 kbps MP3, but at the 256 kbps rate that Amazon offers for MP3s you're unlikely to hear any difference from AAC.

 

[Vdubchaos]

Neither is as good as CDs ripped to lossless compression, sorry. For music that really matters, get the CD and convert it yourself.

Yeep

This is what I do, but quality matters and I don't mind ripping it (usually have it sent from Amazon anyways).

Once copied, CD never gets used again (in most cases)

 

[momeNt]

Keep with 128 and just upgrade your headphones to Beats. The upgrade in sound from anything to Beats will be greater than going from 128 to 256, or even lossless for that matter.

Upgrade equipment before source, the best advice anybody can ever give you.

 

[SphinxnihpS]

First of all CD quality is not magic and nothing ripped from a CD can be very high quality because the source is not. High quality would be like 24 bit 192kHz. Very high would be like 32 bit 2822400kHz.

iTunes has a format called ACAD which is their own compression scheme packaged in .mp4 containers. It is lossless (probably 24 bit 48kHz/CDish). I do not know how much of their catalog is available in this format.

 

[Staples]

Itunes is probably your best bet. 256kbps vbr AAC is indistinguishable from CDs for 90% of music. And the rest? Well I probably couldn't hear the difference anyway.

 

[biostud]

Unless you have both very good audio equipment and very good ears, I doubt you'll be able to tell the difference between 256kbps mp3 and a CD.

 

[mnewsham]

Keep with 128 and just upgrade your headphones to Beats. The upgrade in sound from anything to Beats will be greater than going from 128 to 256, or even lossless for that matter.

Upgrade equipment before source, the best advice anybody can ever give you.

Are you seriously recommending beats? or am I missing some sort of sarcasm?


I mean...what the actual fuck xD

 

[momeNt]

Are you seriously recommending beats? or am I missing some sort of sarcasm?


I mean...what the actual fuck xD

Oh, perhaps he isn't using headphones.

In which case.

http://www.bose.com/

 

[mnewsham]

Oh, perhaps he isn't using headphones.

In which case.

http://www.bose.com/

okay, well now i know you're just trying to push some buttons!

 

[Imp]

I can't really tell that big a difference between iTunes and my CDs ripped at WMP variable bit rate. And I've beeing buying more singles than albums lately, so most of my shit comes from iTunes now.

 

[DougK62]

Are the MP3's from Amazon free of DRM?

 

[darkswordsman17]

There's a couple of other high quality music "shops" online but they're selection is limited and probably has little popular stuff on there, its mostly classical and jazz type of stuff.

Lynn Music is one. I can't remember the others (as mentioned HDTracks is probably your best bet).

CD is about your best option but that's a total crapshoot as well as there's a lot of "remastered" ones out now that sound atrocious. Maybe hunt down SACDs, actually streaming DSD seems to be the most recent popular audiophile goal. That and vinyl of course.

First of all CD quality is not magic and nothing ripped from a CD can be very high quality because the source is not. High quality would be like 24 bit 192kHz. Very high would be like 32 bit 2822400kHz.

iTunes has a format called ACAD which is their own compression scheme packaged in .mp4 containers. It is lossless (probably 24 bit 48kHz/CDish). I do not know how much of their catalog is available in this format.

I think you mean ALAC and that's just a lossless codec like FLAC (so it could be just about any bitrate and resolution) and they don't sell music in that format.

 

[NutBucket]

Yep, no DRM from Amazon.

PLUS! Now when you buy LPs Amazon provides you with downloadable files too! Now that's convenient!

 

[darkswordsman17]

Are the MP3's from Amazon free of DRM?

Yeah. Isn't iTunes as well now?

 

[Mixolydian]

Yeah. Isn't iTunes as well now?

Yes.

Srsly, just use iTunes.

 

[Childs]

Bandcamp allows you to pick your format, but the selection of popular music isn't as big as Amazon or iTunes. Its mainly for smaller/indie bands, although I have found some commercial stuff on there.

 

[Staples]

Yes.

Srsly, just use iTunes.

There is definitely some stigma here of since it is Apple, there must be some kind of catch.

But there is none, I have been buying from iTunes since they opened. It is easier to find stuff and easier to download than Amazon, especially now since they make you download their crappy cloud player app.

Anyway, there is no DRM and hasn't for 3+ years. It is 256kbs AAC and they sound great and can be played on anything. That is all anyone needs to know. Amazon is fine too with their 256kbs mp3 but I find iTunes just makes it simpler.

 

[Anubis]

Unless you have both very good audio equipment and very good ears, I doubt you'll be able to tell the difference between 256kbps mp3 and a CD.

you actually don't