iTunes download formats?

Here is what I do know:

Amazon also offers 256K downloads. They are in MP3 format which is supposed to be a little lower quality than Apple's codec but they sound decent to me. They also will play on any machine whereas iTune's won't. Apple has by far the larger catalog but Amazon's prices tend to be a little better, at least on albums.

The Apple+ tunes at 256k are now $.99 each and are DRM free.

DG (Deutche Grammophone?) now has a big catalog of their classical material in 320k MP3 format online.

Walmart has some at 192k (others at 128k) for 89c but their catalog is weak and much of it is wma which does not play on Ipods. Besides, Walmart sucks.

Thanks for the feedback and info. Interesting that iTunes "Help" has no references I can find regarding iTunes Plus downloads.

I am wrong about the number of albums available in iTunes Plus format, there are many more than 90, at least hundreds.

Blindjim, how exactly did you go about upgrading some of your existing inventory of titles to "Plus" format - did iTunes check your library and automatically offer to upgrade when you made a purchase? Were you prompted? Curious to see how I might do this.

What did you

musicgiants dot com has full resolution downloads, many of them not DRM. They stock music from major labels, so that's also a plus.

Knownothing

Yep. that's right. I went to get a huey Lewis & The News track off their greatest Hits cd... Once I put it into the cart I got the pop up saying this file and a number of others were available in the PLUS (256) format... and did I want to upgrade the existing ones now available in the PLUS or higher bit rate.

Then clicking onto the link the cart then displayed all the titles of the (for me, missing) tracks and some I still had.

The one thing I did notice was there wasn't any cherry picking going on at that point though... it was an all or nothing deal then. Either yes I'll buy em all for the 30 cents or so each... OR Nope... leave me alone choice.

the reason I mentioned "...do re-check that pricing on PLUS file downloads" was because some time back when they first were available, there was indeed a cost diff. Either 25 or 30 cents more per track.

That may not be the case now however... but I'm unclear on that particular point. All I know is I was charged additionally for the PLUS files just then.

If you want I can send you a list of those 256 files. Let me know. it sure didn't seem like they were spotlighting any particular genre... as some of the artists were Dean martin, Odetta, Charles Mingus, maysa, Third World, Trace Adkins, rick Braun, Huey lewis, etc.

It does seem odd to me they'll sell a better quality file for the same price as the 128's, though. but it's OK with me, I'll take them instead everytime. Rip & reload into lossless.

Good luck

Blindjim,

Thanks, no need to send me the list - they have a lot of albums available in Plus format, but just none of the ones I have in iTunes. Most of my collection is on vinyl and CDs.

Apple changed their policy and now sells Plus format files for 99 cents a song. They do still charge a 30 cent per file upgrade fee to convert from 128 to 256.

Pschoi, I looked at musicgiants dot com, and it looks great. A lot of titles and individual songs available at $1.29 each for what they call "HD" format. Will experiment to see how well it works/performs.

Thanks again.