Why are HD downloads so expensive?

And as for your accusation that I am a thief.... only an idiot would say a thing like that to a complete stranger.

I stated that it may appear to be a "ripoff" to those who steal music (illegally by downloading it for free from peer to peer and other such digital file sharing tools)

iTunes charges a buck a track for highly compressed lossy audio! So please explain why should HD tracks which has to go to the extra mile to get high resolution 24/96 should match their price or be cheaper?

Or is iTunes a complete ripoff too?

You are the one with the "rant". You want a free ride.

I am simply sticking up for a company in the small niche business of offering higher quality music to audiophiles. I am actually proud to support the better quality music offered by this company (through my purchases) in a world dominated by illegal downloads of compressed crap. I have no affiliation with HD Tracks.

I too am surprised that there is apparently no competition yet. Why is that? It's like an electrical company: take what you are offered or have no electricity. There is a difference of course. However, in some segments of economics there is very little or no open competition.

HD Tracks has done an excellent job of signing up key labels and getting them ro release a lot of good stuff. A newcomer would have to play catch-up on that score.

However, I don't care for the user interface at HD Tracks and as the content grows, it's going to need to change. I hope they are working on it.

Mauidj,
I didn''t mean to come off as hostile. Lots of people gripe about stuff here. You can too but you may get some blowback. That's just the way it is.

I think it is probably more expensive for HDTracks to send a hi-res download, which includes the cover and booklet, than it is to get a cd or Lp to you at this time. And many people who have tried downloads prefer them to having a physical jewel case, cd and booklet. You can sit in your listening chair and cruise through your collection, checking out liner notes and covers without getting up. You can probably control the print size too. So a hi-res download may have more intrinsic value than a cd or Lp (just make sure you backup the downloads).

HDTracks is a start up in a very risky business. Most startups fail.

They are the trailblazers. They have to make all the expensive mistakes and buy all the custom made hardware and software and work out all the bugs.

So at this point I say give them the benefit of the doubt. If someone can offer downloads at a cheaper price in the future, we can buy from them.

So if you're in Maui, head down to the beach, take in all that beauty and forget about downloads for a while.

I went to HDTracks to look up some of my favorite Rock music. They don't have squat for a selection. They have ONE Steely Dan album and ONE Moody Blues album for example. No Little Feat, Traffic, ONE Eagles album, no Poco, and on and on.

I don't mind paying their price. Just look at what those Japanese comapnies are charging for audiophile CDs. Upwards of $100-150. But at least they have selection.

If these download sites don't get better selection, they will NEVER get me to forsake my current CD collection.

And I am not investing in a $3000 digital player for the high resolution files for just a few albums.