Why can't I download purchased music as WAV?

Posted by: Develyn on 31 January 2011

I'm wondering why we can't  download purchased music in WAV, FLAC, etc.  I like to purchase some of my music via download but don't like the inferiority of MP3.  I'd even be willing to pay a little extra to get it in WAV.
Posted on: 31 January 2011 by garyi
Bandwidth and stupid record companies basically.
Posted on: 31 January 2011 by Rosewind
Bandwidth - should have been dealt with by now.

Stupid record companies - I suppose that they want to make sure that they will still play a role when it comes to sourcing out the bands and making the music available and making a profit, and also they want to make sure that the artists get their share as well.

It is going to change. But when is a good question. There are websites like Naim, Linn, B&W, Bleep, HDTracks and the most recent addition (where I bought Agnes Obel's "Philharmonics" as a FLAC download) Boomcat. The popular music content is limited but sometimes you get lucky the way I did with Trentemoller (Bleep) and Agnes Obel (Boomcat). And at other times you encounter some new artists that you would never never have heard about - like Gwyneth Herbert (Naim).

The backside to ordering online music is that mostly you don't get the full cd booklet. That should change. In a not too distant future I hope to be able to look at "digital booklets" on my iPad - or soem equvalent of this (bigger = better - I miss the full-size vinyl covers).

Best wishes,
Peter
Posted on: 31 January 2011 by Aleg
Flac is becoming more common esp. on the classical scene.



Eg theclassicalshop.net (also with pdf booklets) and many record labels.

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aleg
Posted on: 31 January 2011 by Tog
Some enlightened artists are starting to release 24 bit versions of their work downsampled from their master tapes. Tom Petty did this with his most recent album 'Mojo' and you can get George Harrison's "All Things Must Pass" as hires files. To save download times - these will be flac - which is fine.







Tog
Posted on: 01 February 2011 by manicm

If you purchase a FLAC file, you've purchased WAV already. Download the free FLAC encoder/decoder to 'unpack' the WAV from the FLAC and you'll have your bit-perfect file.

Posted on: 01 February 2011 by Tog
Exactly ... 

Tog
Posted on: 01 February 2011 by okli
Reference:
The backside to ordering online music is that mostly you don't get the full cd booklet. That should change. In a not too distant future I hope to be able to look at "digital booklets" on my iPad - or soem equvalent of this (bigger = better - I miss the full-size vinyl covers).

volunteers to write "iBooklets"? :-)
Posted on: 01 February 2011 by Aleg
The issue of the OP was that most music he want is only available as MP3 in the stores he buys from and not so  much the different lossless formats, but the lack of any lossless format.

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aleg
Posted on: 01 February 2011 by realhifi
Yep, need to discuss that with Mr. Jobs I would think.  If enough people email Apple it could at least poke them so they even know that there are people interested in higher resolution music.

Like it or not, the iTunes gorilla has become a big fish that a LOT of people go to for their music.  If THEY started offering it, then the rest would follow.