Hi-Res Download News (HDTracks, ProStudioMasters, Pono, etc.) & Software/Mastering Part 12**

FYI, all MQA files are not down at HRA. Gone. So they meant exactly what they said.

 

Where did they verify it? On the post that is not there anymore?

 

Via numerous emails sent by various posters here and on Computer Audiophile.

Including my inquiry. I received an email verifying everything they posted. And as I posted, no more MQA albums. Kaput.

 

And another DRM scheme bites the dust...

Eff-off, watermarking idiots!

 

As much as I would like to believe that is the case..not so fast. With the chearleading press, and the MQA shills,
it still has sometime to go before it suffers a deserved wretched and painful demise. But not yet, as those who
have an economic incentive to keep the charade alive will come to its defense.

 

Nevertheless, one can no longer "search" for MQA titles at highresaudio.com, and if you email them they will give you (at least some) of the reasons they will no longer be offering MQA.

 

I am not seeing how Highresaudio, that serves a niche of a niche market, where large chunk of the worlds' population cannot even buy from them, will have any effect, good or bad on MQA. My gut feeling is hires downloading is going kaput. I do not know if anyone else who purchases from HDtracks has an a experience that is similar to mine but I have bought A LOT of titles from HDtracks over the last few years yet I have not bought anything from them in the last 3 going on 4 months and right now I do not see anything in the future that will change that. New releases have been in the toilet for the last few months (IMO). I recently signed up with Tidal a little over a month ago, now I have no need to download any cd res music from anywhere. I am convinced there are many artist, titles that I like but will never see 24/96-192 treatment and it is looking like MQA will be the only chance of seeing those artist/titles in some 'hires' form.

 

Oh, that's right. They're French, yes? So the odd grammar of those announcements doesn't necessarily point to "hack" or "troll", which was my quick-call view of it.

"Hi-res" that isn't 2GB per album post-FLAC conversion might.

As a panelist on a RMAF video asked, "Does anybody REALLY enjoy curating a couple-terabyte collection of files?" (I actually do, but I suspect I can't support the industry on my own. General consensus in the room was "No.")

It doesn't help that new recordings by new artists are frequently coming out at 24/44.1 at best.

By "new releases", do you mean there's a dearth of really hi-res newly recorded music, or that newly released hi-res (of whatever vintage) has more problems than you want to deal with, and they can die with their secrets?

Like RAID isn't a backup, a streaming service isn't Anything You Could Want in the cloud. Services pull and put back albums seemingly at random, but in fact, probably as part of a specific request from the copyright holders. I went on an impulse binge of a Universal act this past week (Siouxsie and the Banshees) and found that there were a couple gaps on Tidal. Found those missing albums on Spotify. Had to jump back and forth. A discussion here of Bowie's pre-Blackstar version of "'Tis Pity" from a single in 2014 had me discovering that its presence on the streaming services, which I personally enjoyed, was apparently a limited time offer.

Furthermore - build up an elaborate enough library or playlist collection on one service, then good luck to you when you are forced to unsub or they go belly-up. With the proviso that I'm a major procrastinator, it took me a year and a half to finally unsub from Rhapsody from the point when I decided it was time to move on and not maintain three streaming subscriptions.

(On the upside, I was glad to be well-stocked with streaming services when all those people DIED last year, and I had that impulse to gorge on their music. In particular, Prince, who was exclusive to Tidal at the time.)

My view is slightly qualified: that MQA will be the only chance to hear some titles in 'hires' that aren't stupidly mastered by stupid (and deaf?) people. For that reason, I read the articles on MQA that I come across. I know I'm a long way from buying a $200 entry-level MQA-compliant DAC, however.

 

I agree. . . But this all originates at the labels. For a while it seemed Rhino/WB was showing interest in hires reissues. Sure some of the reissues were strange, but at least it was a step forward. If the labels don't support the concept of "better sounding music" it won't matter what format we get. They'll just put out crap on MQA. I think it's time for someone with lots of money to step up and pull a Rhino 80s move. They built their company putting out records that no one else believed were still viable. They were the champions of the reissue. I worked with them on several projects and they were passionate about what they did. Tim Buckley. . . Stooges Fun House sessions. Neil Young had the right idea with Pono, but he's Neil Young and has an attention span of a gnat. His philosophy is summed up in the phrase "eat a peach", and I have no idea what that really means, but when he gets bored he just drops everything and moves on to the next. Listen up record conglomerates, I am not a raccoon, no matter what shiny thing you try to dazzle me with I will still want the content more than the process.

 

I have no idea how literary Neil is, but might it be a reference to the stanza close to the end of this??


The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock by T. S. Eliot

 

Actually, I screwed up. I meant all files ARE down. Apologies. I was making the point that there post correlated to their subsequent actions.

 

Can someone fill the blanks...Tidal now offers FLAC downloads? When did they start? And will this be a game changer?

 

They have for a long time (a year or two?). So no, I don't think it changed any games.

 

Wanted to check out the Pono store right now. Seems to be under construction now because they have a new partner working together and do preparings. Sorry if this was mentioned already.

 

This must be "notice things that happened a year ago day"

 

Thank you. I was unaware.

 

What do you mean?

 

Well...

- they rarely (if ever?) sell individual songs from albums
- Their prices are rarely a bargain
- You get one shot at downloading and THAT'S IT
- while you can easily view your purchase history in the main web app, it's not always accurate
- store/streaming integration are pretty weak. My experience is that one has to approach the web storefront directly, with a direct store address, or from a menu that is difficult to find, rather than launching from your streaming session (again, this may have changed recently. I hope it has.)

So, game changer? No. But probably not for the reasons one might suspect.

 

The fact that the pono store is closed down, and that Tidal sells FLAC downloads, are both old (months/year) news.

But two different people posted near one another in the thread as if it was all fresh news.

 

Post before yours was someone noticing that Tidal sells flacs which they have from the beginning. Pono store has been "temporarily" closed since last summer. Just having fun with "old news" resurfacing.

 

Not a game changer at the prices they're charging.

 

Sorry I was just checking out the Pono page for the first time today and was wondering what's going on there. I just started collecting high resolution audio stuff since the beginning of this year.
Which online stores for HD audio do you guys prefer? Is HDtracks a good (or even best) option?

 

I was JUST going to make that comment..$18 for Redbook FLAC? Not in this lifetime.

 

That paints a pretty clear picture, thanks.

 

Just a little joke. No biggie.