On Sun, 17 Dec 2017 23:03:00 -0500, ...w¡ñ§±¤ñ
wrote:

Char Jackson wrote:
I can't tell you anything about iTunes. I consider it to be a fairly
benign form of malware, so it's not something I have access to. Still,
I'd be surprised if iTunes only offers a single quality setting because
surely they are aware that customers have differing expectations
regarding the quality of what they download. In your case, check to see
if they have a higher quality version of what you want.


All iTunes store music is downloaded in 256 kbps encoded using the Advanced
Audio Coding (AAC) codec and distributed with .m4a extensions from the
iTunes store. The 256 kbps setting, afaik, is an average bit rate lossy
encoding scheme, not a fixed bit rate encoding scheme. The actual sample
rate is varied dynamically based on the content and time which iirc is not
changeable.

Music imported/copied into iTunes(e.g. CD, mp3, Media Player or other player
supported format) or converting existing tracks via the
iTunesEditPreferences has optional settings(but not applicable to
downloaded iTunes Store music[1]).
- 5 different audio playback bit rates ranging from 44.1 -192 kHz
- 2 different bits per sample for audio - 16 or 24
- 2 Audio Play modes - Direct Sound or Windows Audio Session

[1] Some folks do an end around on the 'downloaded from store' limit by
burning the music to CD, deleting the store downloaded music and re-import
to take advantage of the optional settings. Some claim improvement. I've
never considered or wasted time to do it, so mileage may vary (better or
even worse imo)

Another way to look at it...as the listener ages, the ability to discern any
plausible differences in digital, cd, analog music, vinyl, etc.
declines...and that decline is much faster for the males than females who
retain the ability to hear higher frequencies. Thus, if you need to discern
the difference, don't ask in this group, ask a woman instead!

Good points, thanks.

Technically, you could ask younger people because they can still hear
better, but then you'd get a young person's opinion, so there's that.