Why No CD-Quality Lossless Downloads?

Why haven't Amazon, Google or iTunes started selling CD-quality downloads yet? CD honestly seems dead. I was at Best Buy the other day and it doesn't even look like they care to carry much of them at all anymore. Just the newest releases and that's about it.

I honestly don't care for the HD downloads. My 'opinion' is that they are overpriced and don't offer any advantage over plain 16/44.1 lossless.

How come iTunes hasn't started selling Apple Lossless yet? How come Google Play and Amazon haven't started selling FLAC downloads yet?

In 2015, there is no reason to sell MP3 or AAC tracks. Especially when they cost the same or more than the CD while being less quality and having no physical product and I can create MP3 and AAC versions locally.

 

And another thing I want to know is why none of these services cater to Linux users.

 

For the record, I've been using *IX operating systems since the early 80s.

Having said that, people desiring lossless 16/44 downloads are an infinitesimally small group compared to the overall lossless purchasing public. To make things worse, the current consumption trends are going down for downloads and up for streaming. And Linux users are desktop users, which is a vanishingly small percentage of a dwindling market. Desktop/laptop purchases have been in decline for some years now.

So, Linux users wanting lossless 16/44 downloads are not a demographic that anyone with any marketing experience would pursue.

 

I'm still surprised that not Apple, Google or Amazon has created a version of their music software for the Linux/Unix systems.

 

Amazon Music streams in CD quality.

 

"CD Quality" is a very dangerous phrase. I've heard stuff as bad as 128kbps MP3 marketed as "CD Quality".

 

I believe you can get CD/redbook quality lossless downloads outside the U.S., like from Qobuz in Europe.

But generally I think the trouble is that there's no real incentive for redbook downloads, from either the consumer's or vendor's point of view. For most consumers, if a new album costs $9.99 or more from iTunes in lossy AAC, and $17.98 from HDTracks in 24/96, I don't think either Amazon or HDTracks thinks many people are going to forego both of those options in favor of, say $13.98 or $14.98 for a lossless-but-not-high-res redbook version. Most lossless customers will pay the extra $3-$4 for the unadulterated high-res files, and most iTunes customers don't care about the benefits of lossless.

Conversely HDTracks and the labels wouldn't want it: why take a chance that you'll lose some HD sales to cheaper redbook offerings when the HD version costs exactly zero more money to produce? It's all profit.

 

I know this isn't much of an answer, but there are several classical labels/sites (Linn, Hyperion, and eclassical/BIS) that offer 16/44 downloads.

Really? The stream source is a higher bitrate than the downloads?

 

Apple definitely has for 1/2 of your Linux/Unix.

 

I suspect that Amazon, iTunes, and and Google are comfortable with the status quo. They also don't want to change their infrastructure. I also believe that many customers, especially the ones who fight hi-rez so hard, fear higher prices. It;s like lossy is for the masses.

 

That is where you're wrong. Desktop and laptop sales have picked up over the last year. They are still in the game. There are still lots of uses for them. Besides, desktops can be found for very cheap today. People are still building machines, too.

As popular as lossy files are, it's interesting to see how many people out there still prefer CDs. I think most of the CD crowd isn't keen on using computers.

 

From what I have been reading, home Linux users are declining. Let's face it: even with the more user-friendly versions like Mint, it is still not a user-friendly, dummy-proof, easy-to-use group of OS that are compatible with most software out there. Linux remains to be the favorite of ultra-geeks, and they are like less than 1% of the population?

 

Well, thank you for that welcome correction. I'm quite firmly in the desktop/laptop camp. I like browsers that let me block ads and JavaScript and operating systems that give me access to strong crypto. Oh, and free compilers too.

 

I think your figure is rather high.

 

PonoMusic, Qobuz, HDTracks, and others offer CD quality lossless downloads.

JRiver is working on a Linux version of their JRiver Media Center software. They'll have a Windows, Mac, and Linux versions. All able to share the same library. All able to interact and get along on the same network. Have all your music library on a NAS or other shared network drive. Have Windows, Mac, and Linux clients all accessing it. Even having an iOS and Android app for browsing the library and controlling what to play. It is possible for multiple operating systems to all play nicely with each other.

 

With as much noise that has been made over tablets and smartphone over the years, they still have their downsides. Desktops and laptops are still where it's at. Besides, notice that Apple and Microsoft are still catering to the desktop user?

 

The easy answer is just buy the CD and rip it losslessly to FLAC and/or ALAC yourself and either file the CD away in a closet or give it away (thought the ethics of this are hotly debated). Many CD's are selling for like 5 bucks...sometimes less and there are many free programs that will rip them down for you easily. Honestly if they go the route of Redbook downloads those of us who still buy CD's will be S.O.L. I liken it to CDR or DVDR on demand releases from Amazon. And then there is the whole issue of who mastered it...is it done professionally by the labels or is it some crap Public Domain rip where they basically give you a needledrop of an LP? Yes, call me 'old hat' but give me the physical media first and let me make my own redbook downloads. That said I am enjoying some of the Hi Res downloads I have gotten when buying an LP or bluray for the portability of it but I will have my hard copies till I depart this world...

 

I agree with Randy. I've actually seen MP3 downloads on Amazon that cost MORE than the physical CD. I don't get it?

 

And for the most part Amazon will give you the MP3 album free when you purchase the CD which was cheaper than the MP3 album that they also sell! I scratch my head wondering why anyone would buy the MP3 album in this situation, Now if they (Amazon)started selling even 48/24 downloads that might be something that would go well because it would at least be 'Mid-Res' or lower 'Hi-Res'.....of course the nice thing here is that you can use 48/24 in iTunes and on your Apple product...let's be real, they CAN do everything we want but this is just typical of the music industry to let us buy what we assume is the be all end all product of our favorite music and then they hawk what is even better that 'we can't live without' ...the movie industry told us blu-ray was the best thing to being in the theater and 1080p was the ****. Well, guess what ladies and gentlemen now they are moving to 4K TV's and releases. Till the day I am too old to care they will be releasing and re-releasing 'the best' version of our favorite media.

 

I agree that the pricing for lossless 16/44.1 downloads is silly. Often costing more than the physical CD.

However, there are some 16/44.1 lossless downloads that can be cheaper than the new CD, and in some cases even cheaper than the used CD. Those downloads make cents to me. For example, the Sunn O))) downloads available on Bandcamp. $8 for a lossless CD quality download (and sometimes less when they offer discount codes). Some of the downloads listed there are for CDs that are out of print. Downloads like that make sense to me.

 

You mean Sudo apt-get install iTunes doesn't work?

 

I'm more of a "yum install" kinda guy myself.

 

I'm going to reply to this, but first I need to update my dependencies - brb.

 

Sites such as Bandcamp.com offers lossless, but it's mostly indie artists.

 

PC-BSD is the only serious choice for a desktop OS.