The Official "Apple Digital Masters / Mastered for iTunes" Thread*

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by nbakid2000, Apr 19, 2014.

  1. Time Is On My Side

    Time Is On My Side Forum Resident

    Location:
    Madison, WI
    Yeah it's not always a guarantee of sound quality. But I have found instances where the MFiT version was better than the available CD version. Most times you will want to check these boards to see what is the preferred version then decide if it's worth it to spend the money or not. As far as Alice Cooper - Poison, try to track down an original CD, you can probably find it cheap, and see how you like the sound on it compared to your MFiT version.
     
    Streamingmylife likes this.
  2. Streamingmylife

    Streamingmylife Forum Resident

    Location:
    Stockholm
    The MFiT tools only give the option to correct clipping before submitting, there is no quality check by Apple to approve or not. You can read more about it below. That said I think quality in general is very good (for the price!) even hires files can have issues with DR/clipping. It all comes down to the mastering.

    MFIT Tracks in iTunes Clipped? - Gearslutz
     
    painted8 likes this.
  3. SeanRichard

    SeanRichard Forum Resident

    Location:
    Tampa FL
    I believe I still have an original CD from 89 in my collection. I’ll have to pull it out and do some comparing.
     
  4. SeanRichard

    SeanRichard Forum Resident

    Location:
    Tampa FL
    Thanks for the link, I’m going through some of the convo now between calls at work. I’ve checked out that DR website last night that I see members mention. I have a lot of the CDs that certain titles are listed as having a very good DR score. How much should I take that in to consideration vs any clipping? I also have some cds and MFiTs not listed that I was going to run through their app.
     
  5. Streamingmylife

    Streamingmylife Forum Resident

    Location:
    Stockholm
    In case someone wonder how MFiT started out

     
  6. Time Is On My Side

    Time Is On My Side Forum Resident

    Location:
    Madison, WI
    I like the concept of it. Sadly I just wish some of the artists were held to higher mastering standards. I'm surprised more artists are not doing where you have a standard release and an 'uncompressed' release. I think Paul McCartney did that with some of his remasters. So far that's the only artist I've seen do that. It's not like it would cost a lot more money to do. At least then buyers like us who care how it sounds won't have our ears ruined.
     
  7. Streamingmylife

    Streamingmylife Forum Resident

    Location:
    Stockholm
    Yeah, most music is mastered for playlists and earpods, and that is the majority of listeners.

    Also, still think putting deluxe editions/box sets on streaming services is a missed opportunity. I mean which casual listener streams new Beatles White album's 100+ tracks?
    Make it download/physical only.
     
    Jesper Nielsen likes this.
  8. Time Is On My Side

    Time Is On My Side Forum Resident

    Location:
    Madison, WI
    Gordon Lightfoot has some MFiT stuff.
     
    Streamingmylife and Rick H. like this.
  9. kdl6769

    kdl6769 Forum Resident

    I am sure this has been asked and answered many times, but how do you determine whether a record has been "Mastered for iTunes"? I don't see a way to distinguish when streaming on Apple Music (the records don't seem to be labeled as MFiT).
     
    Freebird likes this.
  10. coffeetime

    coffeetime Senior Member

    Location:
    Lancs, UK
    There isn't any means of determining if a track/album is MFiT via Apple Music. The badge only appears on the iTunes Store content, so there's an awful lot of cross checking between the iOS Music & iTunes Store apps in iOS or between the Store and Library/Browse/For You tabs in the desktop iTunes app.

    Easier when there is only a single instance of a given album in Apple Music & iTunes, but it's far from ideal.
     
    Freebird likes this.
  11. Artie Fufkin

    Artie Fufkin Well-Known Member

    Location:
    San Francisco
    Ben Folds Five - The Unauthorized Biography of Reinhold Messner has been upgraded to MFiT.
     
    coffeetime likes this.
  12. Jesper Nielsen

    Jesper Nielsen Senior Member

    Location:
    Denmark
    Is it me or will we ever see any MFiT on sale again? Hard to find them...
     
  13. coffeetime

    coffeetime Senior Member

    Location:
    Lancs, UK
    They’re still being added and some are occasionally on sale, but curation is non-existant. Aside from the occasional spotlight on the iTunes Store homepage, mainly featuring the biggest, lastest pop releases, there is no way to search or find them beyond looking for individual titles.

    I’ve been enjoying the heck out of the Lord Of The Rings Complete Recordings for each of the three films. All three MFiT, all three sound utterly magnificent. It was only the earlier two albums showing up in my Apple Music ‘For You’ tab that tipped me off that they’d been released. It wasn’t until I searched for them in the iTunes Store that I found out all three were MFiT (presumably tie-ing in with the Blu Ray/3CD box set reissues).
     
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  14. Time Is On My Side

    Time Is On My Side Forum Resident

    Location:
    Madison, WI
    They used to have a spot in the iTunes Store where you could see the latest releases that were MFiT. But it seems they're no longer advertising these. What I really miss were the iTunes Essentials compilations iTunes Essentials - Music downloads on iTunes. I think these have been gone for quite a few years now.
     
    Artie Fufkin likes this.
  15. cdash99

    cdash99 Senior Member

    Location:
    Mass
    Which revives my conspiracy theory that the iTunes store will be closed for music purchases by the summer.
     
  16. Time Is On My Side

    Time Is On My Side Forum Resident

    Location:
    Madison, WI
    I'm not sure how this is evidence of an iTunes Store "shutdown." Earlier this week, I read that UltraViolet was shutting down. A few weeks ago, we also heard Sony's cloud/streaming video service was shutting down. If anything, I would think this indicates purchases will stay here whether digital or physical.
     
    Streamingmylife and coffeetime like this.
  17. Togo

    Togo Same as it ever was

    Location:
    London UK
    I must admit I haven't been posting updates as much lately, but there are still quite a few weekly MFiT releases. As coffeetime says, aside from the usual Top 40/pop artist releases, they are often quite tricky to find, but here are a few I've not mentioned before that you may (or may not) enjoy from across the musical spectrum....

    A 2018 Catch Up (I missed these previously)
    Son's of Kemet "My Queen is a Reptile" (new British Jazz with Shabaka Hutchings)
    Various Artists "We Out Here" (a new British Jazz showcase)
    John Coltrane "Both Directions At Once: The Lost Album"
    Thelonious Monk "Monk (Live)"
    Yo La Tengo "There's A Riot Going On" (really enjoyed this)
    Pusha-T "Daytona"
    Teyana Taylor "K.T.S.E."
    H.E.R. "H.E.R"
    Rosalia "El Mal Querer"
    St. Vincent "MassEducation" (Piano/vocal version of MassEduction)

    New releases include:
    The Specials "Encore"
    James Blake "Assume Form"
    Coming Soon:
    Stephen Malkmus "Groove Denied"
     
    Last edited: Feb 13, 2019
  18. Soundslave

    Soundslave Forum Resident

    Location:
    Tomsk,Russia
    I would add that the upcoming Megadeth - Warheads on Foreheads greatest hits compilation also bears "Mastered for iTunes" icon but (as was the case with Dystopia) I would take that sign for Megadeth with a grain of salt.
     
  19. Time Is On My Side

    Time Is On My Side Forum Resident

    Location:
    Madison, WI
    I did not like the remaster of Rust In Peace which I think was from 2004? Went back to my original CD for that one. I'll definitely take a listen to this one.
     
  20. Soundslave

    Soundslave Forum Resident

    Location:
    Tomsk,Russia
    there were actually two remasters: the one that was also remixed (2004) and the one with original mix (2016). The latter also bears Mastered for iTunes badge and it was first found at UK iTunes store. Later on was issued on HDtracks in 192-24 format along with Peace Sells. They're not disasters as anniversary remasters of PSBWB 2011 and CtE 2012 but still are compressed. DR6 and 7 if I recall right.

    If you look at Warheads page on iTunes, it looks like a melting pot of different remasters, so it has some tracks as 2004 remixes, some original mixes remastered (2012 for CtE tracks as an example) and 2018 Final Kill remaster for KIMB songs.
     
    Jesper Nielsen and coffeetime like this.
  21. Time Is On My Side

    Time Is On My Side Forum Resident

    Location:
    Madison, WI
    I wish they would bring back iTunes LP. When I bought The Beatles Box Set and The US Albums, both of these were MFiT and had iTunes LP. It was nice being able to look at the artwork.
     
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  22. coffeetime

    coffeetime Senior Member

    Location:
    Lancs, UK
    You’re not alone. It was always disappointing that iTLP support never made it to iOS as the iPad would be a natural home for that sort of content whilst listening to the music.

    I’ve already started extracting the digital booklet .jpgs in anticipation of the day when iTunes no longer supports iTunes LP. Not as nice a a PDF digital booklet but ensures the content will always be accessible in the future.
     
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  23. Time Is On My Side

    Time Is On My Side Forum Resident

    Location:
    Madison, WI
    Hmm so The Beatles individual albums and box set all show they have iTunes LP. But if I try to go to my past purchases and re-download, it doesn't give me the iTunes LP.
     
  24. coffeetime

    coffeetime Senior Member

    Location:
    Lancs, UK
    Check that they’re not hidden. I’ve come across iTLP files being hidden from being redownlaoded whilst the music remains visible.

     
    Togo likes this.
  25. lbangs

    lbangs Senior Member

    Counting Crows albums are now mostly Mastered for iTunes.

    Shalom, y’all!

    L. Bangs
     

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