Apple presses pause on high-def music, says Neil Young

[imcarthur]

This is not good news if ole Neil is right. For a couple of years, we have been hearing about Apple's commitment to add uncompressed 24/96 music downloads to iTunes. Neil feels that since Steve's death, they have lost enthusiasm for the project.

""Steve Jobs was a pioneer of digital music," Young said. "But when he went home, he listened to vinyl."

However, "not much" has happened with Apple's high-def gadgets and downloads project since Jobs died in October, Young said. Jobs was a voracious consumer of music, with a special passion for the Beatles and Bob Dylan.

An Apple spokesman declined to comment."

edit: Here is the right link Neil

Source: CNN

Ian

[herr_oberst]

A lot of things are going to change in Cupertino now that SJ is gone.

Very few CEO's are as passionate about the product as he was.

[Zeke]

I asked that question on another thread. I think you're right.

[RWebb]

eventually, someone will have to put out "higher fi" if for no other reason, than as a marketing advantage

I did test the higher zoot mp3 and could not hear any differences (using some difficult program material and a nice expensive home system), but just to be on the safe side, I rip everything off of CDs and only use Apple Lossless

may not be good enough for Ian but I'm ok with it -- I have some high zoot DVDs and SACDs I keep meaning to test against, but it's just not a burning issue for me

[Zeke]

Originally Posted by RWebb

but it's just not a burning issue for me

He made a joke.

[imcarthur]

Archiving music in mp3 is akin to archiving Ansel Adam's photographs as 640 x 480 jpgs.

Ian

[RWebb]

do I have to delete all my Ansel Adams jpg's now too????

[nostatic]

The human ear adapts pretty quickly so fidelity ends up being somewhat relative. When I put a CD into my car stereo system I am reminded how atrocious Sirius/XM fidelity is. But if I don't have the reference point I notice a lot less.

[willtel]

I refuse to buy anything from iTunes because it is all compressed. I just order CDs from Amazon and then rip them in the lossless codec. That way at least I still have a DRM free hard copy.

[imcarthur]

Hey, I catch myself singing along with the Beatles in elevators just like everybody else. While lower quality might not inhibit our enjoyment of the piece as music, higher quality reproduction often allows us to hear it as art. But I will admit that either experience can move you equally.

I'm just concerned that the the option of high-res music might not be available to those of us willing to pay more. While the high-res releases are growing & some real music is finally trickling out, Apple's lead would have turned the tide into a flood.

Ian

[nostatic]

Originally Posted by imcarthur

I'm just concerned that the the option of high-res music might not be available to those of us willing to pay more. While the high-res releases are growing & some real music is finally trickling out, Apple's lead would have turned the tide into a flood.

Ian

I don't know that you'd want to hear 90+% of pop music in higher fidelity...

hey you kids, get off my lawn!

[imcarthur]

Since my drift into Pro, I find myself listening - and enjoying - some of the strangest music. Stuff I could never use in hifi, is my best demo music in Pro. Like that Awolnation that Calvin sat through.

But sigh . . . yes, most pop music is trash & it always has been.

Ian

[john70t]

I'm going back to tabs(The minimalist digital cover music, not the pontificator. Geez, do a search already).

Still waiting for DJs to start playing the one-note minimalist song over and over (so they can go out and have a smoke).
The emergency-tone people will have nothing on that.

[ramonesfreak]

Originally Posted by imcarthur

Archiving music in mp3 is akin to archiving Ansel Adam's photographs as 640 x 480 jpgs.

Ian

I dont really agree with this.

It all depends on what your collection consists of.

Does it matter that I ripped my Robert Johnson CDs in MP3 format? no way. the recordings sound like crap to begin with.

Does it matter that I ripped my ECM Records jazz CDs in MP3 format? yea, probably. That record company in my opinion makes very high quality recordings that benefit from being played on high quality transparent systems

I have found from my HIFI system experience and collecting all sorts of music in all sorts of formats, that there is way too much inconsistency from one recording to another to really care about this issue any more

[RWebb]

well, yeh - but vinyl crap is different from digital crap and both are different from old wire recorder or ancient tape crap

pretty soon you are surrounded by all kinds a' crap...

[id10t]

With storage goign thru the roof in capacity like it has, I'm kinda wondering why anyone bothers compressing at all...

[imcarthur]

Exactly. Storage is not the issue it was a decade ago. But of course, the problem for many is that they already have a huge library of mp3s that they squashed years ago or traded or borrowed or downloaded for free. And if your listening is only via earbuds . . . just enjoy & ignore me.

Ian

[ramonesfreak]

ok well to be honest. i regret not ripping my collection as lossless...i didnt have the space or money to buy the space. i listen to my stuff through a very nice Bryston amp and B&W speakers. i would prefer that my digital stuff be lossless...oh well. someday when i have the budget and time, i will re-rip everything as lossless

there is however, the very real issue that most of what i have and like, is of rather poor quality to begin with.

not every band makes a record that sounds like dark side of the moon. Sure Radiohead and guys like Daniel Lanois do nowdays. but my favorite band, Motorhead, did not make the most HiFi records at the beginning and those are my favorite. Same for most of my favorite stuff...pretty lofi to begin with which i dont mind at all.

I have not read any of Neil Youngs comments about this issue but i know that Daniel Lanois produced his new album and the recording quality is very very high and thats probably what has him wanting people to hear how good a recording can sound

[ramonesfreak]

Originally Posted by id10t

With storage goign thru the roof in capacity like it has, I'm kinda wondering why anyone bothers compressing at all...

when i started to digitize my library, i recall that a 2gig thumb drive was around $100. I have well over 200gig of (mp3) music that i digitize years ago....it was not cheap.

now days, yea. i wish i could start over

[RANDY P]

I've got 2100 songs and 12.01 GB used- I don't compress and avoid MP3 like the plague if possible.