Mastered for iTunes

ummm no.  They dont even give you the best MP3 now (320/V0).  What makes anyone think they will stream let alone sell even CD quality is beyond me.  24/96 or better is a pipe dream.

Good lord, it takes 30 minutes to download an iTunes update!!!  Just imagine how long a 20gb bluray would take   The bandwidth just isn't there... on either end.

Get ready for some major spin on hi res audio and video from them, if they even try.  "We master the music so compression doesn't affect things!"

Not that it matters though.  They will still sell billions to the uninitiated. 

We are a tiny market.

-Patrick

Not at my place.

whatever winky.  You know what im talking about.  I can sustain 4mb/sec, i think it is supposed to be a 30Mbit connect or whatever.  It is not a "me problem"

Not a download thing I'm betting.  It is much more about streaming and how the packets get from point A to point B and how they are unfolded at B.  THAT is why they hired one of the great audio minds last year, Mr Tomlinson Holman.  I would imagine he and his team have not been sitting on thier hands for the last year and I can see his fingerprints all over the adaptive resolution streaming that might be coming.  With other companies nipping at Apple's heels I can't imagine them not doing something as far as high resolution in both music and video and from the figures of how much $ they have made through the iTunes store for both movies and music it will probably include an overhaul of that too.  It's not that they care about the hifi nuts as far as high resolution but much more about selling something new (and better) than their competitors to plain old folks that love both Apple and music. 

Anyone else starting to see the inclusion of HDMI inputs as being much more than meets the eye?

Actually, I think you're right about bandwidth and cost restrictions limiting Hi Def options for the time being. I stream Netflix in pretty good quality, though and that uses more bandwidth than even very high quality audio. But eventually, bandwidth won't be the problem, but the commercial drivers for Hi-Def music might never be strong enough to justify the hassle by mainstream suppliers. But never say never.

In any case I can't say that I'm a fan of the streaming model for music. I like to own my 1s and 0s. I would be a somewhat torn if a lot of music became available in true Hi-Def only in cloud/streaming business models.

I'm also with you on the risk of Apple locking more and more inside their walled garden. I use Apple, but don't think I am locked in at all from the perspective of my music collection. Worst case, I could re-rip my CDs if iTunes and ALAC disappeared, no other media player would play ALAC, and no conversion programs were available. Seems unlikely.

I would love to see a HD option....but I cannot see where it fits in a commerical market where the majority are happy with current itunes offerign and HD will sound no different through Joe Averages ipod dock....

Of course the connection could be between you and Apple rather than your local ISP access could be the issue. The best way of finding out if you have the savvy, is to use Traceroute, you might find your ISP peering partner is holding things back...

All paths through the Internet are no way equal and most people are oblivious to this and assume its all down to thier local bandwidth. With ipv4 you have little control, ipv6 has the potential to improve this when it rolls out.