Looking for lossless downloads

[Dumar]

I recently bought a Dell Media Centre PC and would like to start getting into downloading music and playing it on my system via a media extender (or by burning disks).

I'm looking for sites that provide lossless formats as opposed to MP3, and am not necessarily looking for freebies. Any suggestions would be much appreciated.

Thanks.

 

[furrycute]

Naughty, naughty

Try e-mule.

 

[BMXTRIX]

My understanding is that iTunes offers lossless downloads.

 

[WmAx]

I recently bought a Dell Media Centre PC and would like to start getting into downloading music and playing it on my system via a media extender (or by burning disks).

I'm looking for sites that provide lossless formats as opposed to MP3, and am not necessarily looking for freebies. Any suggestions would be much appreciated.

Thanks.

http://www.allofmp3.com

-Chris

 

[Dumar]

My understanding is that iTunes offers lossless downloads.

That's what I thought too. But then after I spent some money and took a closer look at the material I was getting, it all turned out to be MPEG4.

Apparently when the material has DRM applied, their lossless format (ALAC) is not available.

I've been taking a closer look at the WMA codec, which sounds much better than MP3.

 

[miklorsmith]

MP3's Not Created Equal

My nonscientific comparisons show that different .mp3 codecs yield variable results in quality. The freeware LAME codec, using variable-rate encoding was by far the best for me, including the .wma stuff I listened to. Still not as good as .wav files though. Hydrogen Audio or EAC have the latest info on the LAME du jour choice.

 

[sixdouble532one]

lossy lossy

itunes uses a lossy process, it is just supose to be much better than other out there.......I don't hate the apple stuff but I dont prescribe to the notion that it is THE BEST THING EVER(said in a godlike voice) all of their stuff need to have a good look taken at it.

 

[sts9fan]

Free Live Music Archive

Many of these recordings are Auds so they are hit or miss. There are many a soundboards there though. Can someone say every Grateful Dead show ever.
Archive.org is absolutly amazing for any open soruce material.

Thank me later

LIVE MUSIC ARCHIVE

 

[sts9fan]

oh yeah

you can stream lots of stuff from it also...

Did I mention 2789 Grateful Dead shows???

 

[BGLeduc]

iTunes (the web site) does not offer lossless downloads, or MP3. All music sold on iTunes, or available for free is 128K AAC, with DRM protection.

iTunes (the software program) allows you to rip music in AAC, MP3, AIFF, WAV, or Apple Lossless. None of the rips you do yourself include any DRM protection.

Brian

 

[Dumar]

Seek and yee shall find ...

Thanks for the correction, Brian ... and thanks to all who have posted.

I have learned much in the last few days about digital audio coding. For example:

MPEG4 AAC (Advanced Audio Coding) is a proprietary audio format used by Apple's iTunes and is by definition lossy. This codec (an improvement over MP3 according to "professional listeners") utilizes Perceptual Coding, which removes "perceptually irrelevant" data from the original source (as does MP3). Redundancies in the coded audio signal are also removed. Hence the term "lossy".

I am moving away from my initial interest in WMA since I discovered that typically the WMA downloads available are not lossless and have strong DRM applied (like AAC). WMA Lossless is available, but is only an option when ripping (the same as Brian pointed out with Apple Lossless and iTunes).

My research has lead me to this site: http://flac.sourceforge.net/

FLAC (Free Lossless Audio Codec) is an open-source lossless format that uses a method of compression similar to that used to produce Zip files, which produces an exact copy of the original. The FLAC Project is committed to providing the best lossless codec available for free, and encourages others to improve on it. I have been checking out some of the music links offered up on the site and have been really impressed with the variety of music available, and its cost. Typically you will pay a few $ less for the FLAC files as opposed to buying the CD. I also found a site that offers 24 bit FLAC downloads.

Anyway, that's enough taking ... got to get back to listening.

 

[aclamar]

The ONLY lossless downloads from the Major labels

MusicGiants.com is the only place you can buy lossless downloads from the major labels (i.e. EMI, Warner Music Group, Universal Music Group, and Sony/BMG). They use the WMA lossless codec and Windows DRM. That means the downloads are compatible with any device that can play WMA lossless drm'd music files. They just opened up for business last week. Their selection is limited to EMI's catalog right now, but they say they are going to make all the rest of the majors available in the next couple of weeks as they test their store.

The downloads are a little more expensive, but it is full resolution. If you are buying for a home system, lossless is the only way to go. Why build a collection of compressed anything?

 

[Dumar]

I checked them out:

They charge an annual $50 US membership fee, waived if you purchase $250 US worth of music or more per year. The price per song is $1.29 US. The service is not offered outside the US. They are applying heavy DRM to the music you buy.

I think they are on the right track by offering lossless downloads, and I believe more people are going to be asking for this format due to the low cost of hard drive space. Really though, when you consider CD's are sampled at 1.400KBps, and iTunes and others offer "near CD quality" music at 128Bps, you have to wonder why there aren't more lossless sites out there.

I wonder how they'll do?

Recently I've been buying lossless FLAC files from Magnatune and burning them to CD. The sound quality is outstanding.

 

[kay]

Not lossless, but if you're into electronic music check this site out:

www.thinner.cc

Some awesome releases you can download for free!