Apple wants to offer high fidelity music downloads
Music from the iTunes store could sound more like the real thing, but it won't play on your current iPod
by Taylor Hatmaker on February 22, 2011
According to CNN, Apple is working with record labels to consider offering higher quality music downloads in the iTunes store. When music is adapted digitally, it's compressed to make it take up less digital space. Studios generally record audio in 24-bit format, but CDs and digital downloads shrink that amount of data to 16 bits, stripping away the fullness of the sound in the process. Streaming pares down an original recording even further so that it can play steadily over a wireless connection.
The bad news is that Apple would need to reengineer the hardware of the iPod and iPhone entirely to offer the fuller sound afforded by 24-bit music files on its line of portable devices. But since the iTunes application does support 24-bit music files, high-fidelity digital recordings could still find their way to the Apple's digital store for home enjoyment. Anyone willing to pay a premium for music quality probably wouldn't be caught dead with Apple's telltale white earbuds, anyhow.
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Music from the iTunes store could sound more like the real thing, but it won't play on your current iPod.
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