[Audio Empire]

On Sun, 14 Aug 2011 10:12:58 -0700, Robert Peirce wrote
(in article ):

I use iTunes as a music server. Everything in it right now is AIF from
CDs and LPs. I thought to download some tunes from Apple but they are
all AAC. (AAC is described as being better than MP3, which I guess is
like having crap without the smell.) For some reason they don't support
AIF.

Is there a source of lossless downloads of individual tunes out there
somewhere? I did a google search but could not find anything. Some
sites weren't working and the ones I found that were didn't have the
kind of music I listen to. Mostly I listen to jazz but also some older
rock and classical.

My experience (and I'm afraid it's limited) is that Apple Store iTunes
downloads sound wretched - at least every one that I've downloaded has. My
last try was a 4-CD (if you bought it) set called "Miklos Rozsa, a Centennial
Celebration" from Varese Sarabande. It was unlistenable. Subsequently, I
borrowed a "hard copy" CD set from a friend who purchased it and ripped it
myself. My "rip" was 1000 times better than the iTunes Store download. Since
I already paid iTunes for the download, I don't feel that copying my friend's
CDs is piracy. Had I not already paid for it once, I wouldn't have done that.

Since then I've been very reluctant to buy anything else from iTunes as that
wasn't the first download with which I've been dissatisfied.