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

This news is sad. While I don’t purchase iTunes downloads anymore and only purchase lossless files now, it worries me about the future of purchasing audio files in general.

I have been exploring purchasing files directly from the artist’s website or label’s website.

 

“For those who like to own their music, the iTunes Music Store is just a click away.”

Apple previews macOS Catalina

Shalom, y’all!

L. Bangs

 

L. Bangs to the rescue!

 

I really hope we will see some great discount again on music, I really miss that and I of course hope there will be more MFiT of catalogue titles..

 

As Apple has been proudly stating to be respecting artists (not like Spotify in their reasoning) I have lately been expecting the store to remain. Now is the perfect time to bring ALAC/hires to the store with MFiTs as compliment.

 

But sadly they probably won't....as much as I'd love them to.

 

Despite my thoughts on ALAC/hi-res being unlikely above, it's at least good to see that the store is staying as part of the new music app - at least for now.

 

Don't shoot me, I've got $100 in itunes cards and looking for some music. Anything worthy of a buy? Is there a must have list of upgrades somewhere?
I did a search didn't find one? I did buy the Police and I feel its an upgrade over the MFSL...

 

There’s plenty MFiT worth buying - rather than linking back to older posts in the thread, let us know a few artists/groups/genres/styles you’re into and I’m sure the usual crew will chime in (me included! Depending on genre).

 

Disaster averted! Looks like Apple has fixed the problem....you can now re-download iTunes LP files and Digital Booklets.

 

I just bought A Chorus Line - 4oth Anniv edition. Was considering getting it on HDTracks, and I figured I would check MFiT. Saved 1/3 the price of the HDTracks version.

Also picked up the Toto 40 Trips collection and the newest album from Tedeschi Trucks Band, both MFiT. All three albums $31 from iTunes, vs the $46 they would have been on HDT after the usual 15% coupon.

 

I grabbed Tom Petty American Treasure MFit. It’s got some gems on it.

 

Pardon me if this has been asked already but is their a catalog or list/database of all the “Mastered for iTunes” albums? I’d love to see it. Thank you.

 

Not that I know of. One thing you can try is searching the dynamic range database and search for "mastered for itunes"

Album list - Dynamic Range Database

 

New Mastered for iTunes

Mountain - Live at Woodstock
Melanie - Live at Woodstock
Tim Hardin - Live at Woodstock
Blood Sweat and Tears - Live at Woodstock

These appear to be full setlists by each artist...more songs than the 10 disc Woodstock box set just released. Maybe someone can confirm?

 

It’s been a few years now. Has Mastered for iTunes achieved its mission statement?

1. Better preparation of master for encoding
2. To educate engineers to break old habits
3. Provide amazing music to the consumer

 

Depends on how you measure it.

Are all submissions to the iTunes Store MFiT? No.

For MFiT submissions, are masters better prepared for encoding than previous versions of a track/album whether iTunes, CD or other digital store/format? In many cases I’d say yes. The 2013/2014 MFiT Zeppelin studio remasters were better presented than the earlier non-MFiT versions, using a better master/tape transfer. Likewise for the current ABBA studio albums. Volbeat’s Outlaw Gentlemen & Shady Lady’s CD is a brick walled earbleeder. The MFiT album? Much more dynamic with no audible clipping (to my ears at least, I’ve not checked the waveform).

Has it educated engineers to break old habits? No idea. Were previous brick walled masterings due to producers & mastering engineers themselves, or were clients/artists directing them to ‘make it loud’. Given that client pay for the results, they get to call the tune, pun intended.

Has it provided amazing music to the consumer? In many cases, absolutely yes. ABBAs MFiT studio albums bury my Complete Studio Recordings CD box set. My Floyd ‘Discovery’ MFiT albums are at least as good as my lossy CD rips from my CD Discovery box. I bought the Beatles US Albums box set as a MFiT itunes purchase over the physical box set as I was sufficiently impressed with previous Beatles MFiT purchases to skip the physical CD box set. The MFiT Appetite for Destruction super-deluxe I bought before a too-good-to-pass up offer on the physical SDE with the 5.1 Blu Ray. the Blu-Ray is awesome but I’ve not bothered ripping the CDs - the MFiT album already cuts the mustard. All my Deutsche Grammophon MFiT classic purchases have all sounded superb, dynamic whether played through the lounge system, Sonos speaker, my Homepod or my assortment of heardphones and earphones.,

Whilst the presence of the MFiT badge on an album doesn’t 100% guarantee great sound quality (sadly), it has proven over 90% so for albums I was considering vs went on to purchase. I still buy non-MFiT albums but I’m much more particular about auditioning them via the iTiunes store or Apple Music first.

 

Abba-Super Trouper MFIT
They slip right through.....
IMO-No. For remasters they are using what the labels provide, they aren't going to deny a sale and say 'give us a better mastering'.
Doing a DR scan on lossless isn't accurate, but if you check the peaks on this one, they clearly hit zero. This one clearly skipped the process.
Lay All Your Love On Me-

 

The Tool catalog has been added, all MFiT.

 

Thank you.

 

Maybe, but Apple suggests an amount of headroom of roughly -1dB (yes, not even dBTP), which is way too little if you're mastering loud material. They also provide the engineers with tools such as AACroundtrip, which from my experience (as all true peak "estimators") becomes less reliable the higher sample rate you master at. If the engineer who mastered this was working at 24/192, s/he may not have gotten a red flag from the plug-in while working. Most MFiT masters are also supplied at 24/96, and it's very possible that the engineer simply didn't check this one before it was delivered, having followed Apple's procedure during the work.

 

Anything is possible, that's why I don't trust it

 

Looks like MFiT is evolving/might be renamed:

From MacRumors.com

Both the MacRumors and linked Billboard articles are very light on actual detail. Hopefully this heralds MFiT/Apple Digital Masters content is flagged as such in Apple Music as well as the iTunes Store.

 

Also being reported at The Verge - no new information but does attempt to explain MFiT and its aims. Our thread here does get name checked and linked, which is quite cool. Everyone on their best behaviour now in case we have guests!

 

Since Apple is doing away with the iTunes store as a central app next month, it makes sense to rename or rebrand the Master for iTunes label to something else, i.e. Apple Digital Masters. I feel it will be the exact same thing, just rebranded and renamed.