Acoustic Sounds Will Stop Offering Super Hi-Rez Downloads

Just got this e-mail, thought I'd pass it on.

 

I presume the Analogue Productions hi res downloads are exclusive to the Acoustic Sounds Super HiRez store. As for whether they'll become available elsewhere after the end of the year is anyone's guess. The description for the Rolling Stones mono box set DSD download says it's an Acoustic Sounds exclusive as well. If anyone else knows of hi-res downloads exclusive to the Acoustic Sounds downloads store, please post here.

 

Acoustic Sounds is ending their hi-rez download business on 12/31/20.

 

Streaming has killed that business. I haven't bought any downloads since I started using Qobuz with Roon.

 

Hi-Res downloads: expensive, prone to being lost if not backed up properly, not distinguishable from lower quality sources unless played back on expensive gear, no physical object "ownership satisfaction", can't be resold (legally).

Streaming: cheap, nothing to manage on own equipment, good or great audio quality (same as hi-res with some services), unlimited access for a fixed fee.

Buying records or CDs: same quality as downloads but often cheaper, physical object ownership (can be resold), no need to backup.

In short: the music download business is dead.

 

HD tracks and the likes are just too dang expensive.

 

I've never bought one. There's just too much involved with it to tempt me away from all the physical media I've amassed over the years. I'm quite happy with what I have to buy more gear to convert to downloads or streaming. OTOH I've never lost an lp or cd to a crash or the Cloud. Works for me.

 

Man... lots of hate for downloads! I buy used physical media, but have done my share of downloads for new/remastered material. I've only lost one, and that was because of my own stupidity of not backing up. The latest... the Steve Wilson Yes remixes... $35 for 5 classic albums in 24/96? Yes please! Didn't need to spend the dough for the blu-rays, just wanted the stereo remixes.

And it may not be the same as physical media, but it's mine and I don't have to have an internet connection to listen to it & don't have to worry about it disappearing from a streaming service.

 

It's about time!

 

This thread could become popcorn-worthy once the "you don't own the music on physical media you buy either" crowd gets here

 

I still download. I want high rez. Low-rez streaming ain't good enough. That said, Acoustic Sounds always frustrated me as they would eliminate your ability to go back and download after 30 days.

 

Ya, NO it isn't dead. And Hi-rez is vastly superior to lower quality streaming, etc. By FAR.

 

For those who can tell the difference, or think they can tell the difference, there are streaming services like Qobuz where you stream up to 192/24 FLAC files, which you can also download to your devices and play offline, all for a monthly fee of less than one high-res album download.

 

Overpriced and they wonder why people don't buy them. Bandcamp has this crap sewn up.

 

I don't dislike this site but they do a lot of really goofy things. The really large "Acoustic Sounds is not responsible for in-transit delays" at the top of every page is the kind of disclaimer that just doesn't fly anymore and one example of many that suggests this site is operating like they're in another era.

 

Not available to me as I'm in Australia.

But the fact that there is a law called "The Music Modernizing Act of 2018" makes me say that this (the Act) is yet another example of the big record label companies screwing over people and companies.

Hi-Res pisses me off because a lot of it is not available in my country - and in this case it's not like it's more expensive to transport it over here* - and much of it seems to suffer from excessive limiting. If they can not use limiting on the vinyl master for optimum sound quality, wouldn't it result in better sound if no limiting was used for the hi-res download master as well?

* Records in Australia cost (in Australian dollars) more than twice the American price - a $35 record costs Au$75 even though our dollar is worth around US$0.70 (US$35 = Au$50 approx)

 

I bought downloads, both Redbook and Hi-Rez for years. After awhile, I got tired of dealing with metadata inconsistencies that had to be corrected (especially on classical recordings), connectivity issues, software inadequacies, etc. Since I'm not a fan of streaming, I now buy LPs and CDs only. I think much of the music listening community has become largely divided into those who regularly stream and those who continue to buy physical media. Very much like when I was much younger, there were AM/FM listeners and LP buyers. So have things really changed the much (except with streaming you're not at the mercy of a radio DJ)?

 

Well, this is annoying. I purchased a number of Analogue Productions downloads yesterday. I tried to purchase some more this morning, but was unable to complete my order. Now it's telling me that my username is invalid. I'm wondering whether their system saw my pattern of purchases, thought there might be fraud, and shut down my account. Or maybe there are problems with the Acoustic Sounds web site. Either way, I seem to be shut out of purchasing downloads with the download store closign in less than a week.

I'd be curious to hear from anyone else who's experienced problems purchasing downloads.

 

Full disclosure... I've only ever bought downloads from HDTracks & 7digital, so AS getting out of the business doesn't really affect me.

I used to get bent out of shape about the fact that 7digital let you download past purchases while HDTracks didn't until I put it in the context of buying new physical media. If I bought an LP and lost or damaged it, I would hardly expect the merchant to give me another copy for free. And the few times I've gotten corrupted or defective downloads, I've gotten replacements or refunds.

 

I disagree on these points:

Streaming: prone to being lost at the unilateral will of the provider. Example: all the 12'' from Frankie Goes To Hollywood that are no longer appearing on Qobuz. You're at the mercy of the tagging and sorting of the provider.

Hi-res download: safe and eternal, providing you're backing them up properly. You can improve the tagging, you have control over your collection. Nothing disappears unless YOU want it too.

Buying CDs: lesser sound quality (as hi-res streaming or downloads).

 

I can hear the difference and as for Qobuz and Tidal, yes, they do provide higher rez at those rates. BUT, they don't stream everything and as one other member pointed out we are at the whim of the provider. They can take albums we want out. Purchases are mine forever, unlike Acoustic Sounds which won't allow you to keep your albums as a download forever. I buy from Eclassics, Chandos, and Presto for classical music and Qobuz for a lot of other and still want to own my albums.

 

I don't dispute the points that you make, particularly I share the concern about things missing in most streaming catalogues, but your choice is much more expensive and doesn't give you the chance to sample new music without spending money, so fewer and fewer people will follow your approach when other options are available and that's why I say that the download business is dying.
If that wasn't the case Qobuz would not be in the streaming business where they make much less money than with downloads.

 

This sucks. I hadn't seen the news, and assumed the sale was just an end-of-year event. Glad I bought the few DSD downloads I had been planning to get from them over the past two days. Seriously -- I bought a download today, did some other things on the computer, and went back no more than two hours later to see if there was anything else interesting...and it was all gone.

It's unfortunate, because I know very few, if any, other sites that offered DSD versions of classic albums. And, of course, that includes lots of Analogue Productions remasters that may be impossible to find now.

Oh, well, it's a good thing I grabbed the DSD Let It Bleed last night, or I really would be pissed-off...

 

You ever figure this out? Seems to have happened to me just now

 

Yep, figured it out. If you make too many purchases in a 24 hours period, the bots suspect fraud and freeze your account. I was able to reach customer service and they unfroze my account. I ended up being able to purchase all the downloads I wanted before store closed, but it was a bit of a pain. The problem is that if you buy more than 30 or so downloads at a time, the downloader doesn't work properly. But if you try breakup up your purchases among several orders, your account gets frozen. I guess it's a moot point now that the download store is gone.