High resolution music files are being accepted by
Apple Inc.(NASDAQ:AAPL) for iTunes. This might be a move on the company part to
sell music in a higher quality format and resolution. Sound engineers have been
asked to generate 96 kHz, 24-bit WAV files. Grammy-award-winning sound engineer
Tim Faulkner, with more than 3500 recordings in his kitty, has said that he is
utterly delighted on having been requested to remaster his London Symphony
Orchestra Live recordings for iTunes, which were recorded in 176k4.
Some have raised questions as to why the iPhone
is not supporting high-resolution sound files now. The reason is because the
higher amount of digital information that has to be converted can use up the
battery life of iPhones very fast. Faulkner agrees that while battery life of a
device should not be compromised for churning out better quality music, it
should not be the only parameter. He has admitted to hearing about lossless and
96k downloads coming up for sale in iTunes.
The battery life issue can be tackled via an
iPhone-controlled audio module, but even then iPhone can’t have high-resolution
files until the suitable antidote is found. PC users can cheer up because
high-resolutions iTunes audio will soon be available on computers.
An audio platform like Orastream, has brought
together names like Neil Young, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Jackson Browne,
and Crosby , Stills, & Nash who are putting
out high-resolution audio. Young has been a major contributor to the success of
the standalone device Pono Player as he is an advocate of high-resolution
audio.
Great, except that the audio processor in the iPods is mediocre at best. Won't get to enjoy the extra quality, probably, on iDevices.
ReplyDeleteNot Problem,
ReplyDeleteA new iPod and IPhone 5s will be released in 6 months and you can get it for only $700.
Before you buy into supposedly superior high-resolution audio, ask for a blind test. I guarantee you'll hear no difference.
ReplyDeleteNot true. With some of the better MP3 players out there (e.g. like my Cowon S9), they get a good audio processor. Even with 'regular' MP3s with encoding of 256 (and even 192 bits), my friends with iPods consistently get amazed by the difference.
ReplyDeleteAlthough Apple made MP3s popular for everyone, including people afraid of computers, they definitely did not do any favors for good MP3 players out there. Sadly, many of the best and most-interesting ones have died as a result of iPod's market devouring and Apple's advertising prowess.