Apple to download 24 bit in iTunes?

Shadorne hit the nail on the head IMO. The mass market won't care much if at all about high-rez, as their systems aren't resolving enough to hear the difference. Throw them on an iPod with ear buds, and there's far less too care about.

The limiting factor is rarely, if ever the redbook standard IMO. Until everything gets recorded with the sound quality of something like Dark Side of the Moon, the high-rez issue is a gimmic at best in mainstream music.

Then again, even if very few will hear the difference, yet they're paying a premium for it because they think 'HD music' will be better, I'm all for it. I'll take all my music in 'HD quality.' Hopefully it won't just mean more bits to brickwall and make 'louder.'

If Bose and Monster get on board with marketing 'HD music,' we could have a winner on our hands, provided they're not the ones dictating what 'HD music' really is.

You do not have to have a top notch system to hear an improvement with higher rez audio. In my low-to midfi system, my SACDs have a huge advantage when compared to the general CD release. Maybe it is the lack of compression or the way they were mastered, it seems the music breathes so much better

How are you ripping SACD's?

I've never ripped any personally I've only downloaded them. This article describes the process http://groups.google.com/group/surroundsound/web/digital-sacd-ripping-guide-using-the-modified-oppo-pcm-output-board-method?pli=1 I guess technically it is a recording and not a rip but the albums I have sound pretty awesome piped through my DAC.

It sounds like a serious pain to do yourself.

Then there's the issue I was griping about in another thread where the music industry thinks they need to charge more for the higher resolution format when, in actuality, they have to do more work to DOWNSAMPLE the music from the native format it's stored in.

Djohnson, that's very interesting I never thought of it like that. I'm curious why digital music outlets haven't released tracks in 24bit from the git go...

Shadone has hit the nail on the head with compression being limiting factor in sound quality. Files were compressed because storage devices were limited in capacity, be it hard drive, ipod, mp3, etc. The smaller the file, the more songs could be purchased for any given device.
In the case of iTunes, they went from 128K songs to iTunes+ songs to Apple lossless. Each the upgrade extracted a price increase. Where do they go next, obviously 24 bit downloads. File size has increased as storage capacity has increased.
Sales of songs have flatlined so these companies need a new marketing strategy. If the new strategy is 24 bit, I say don't look a gift horse...This is what audiophiles have been waiting for. Just say thank you!