“It’s too bad 97 percent of you will have to wait until the end of the year to check out Apple’s new iTunes Music Store. It rocks! For now, the music service from Apple Computer Inc. works only on the computers running its Macintosh operating system. But iTunes Music Store proves again that Apple has cornered the market on style and user satisfaction. The service offers unparalleled flexibility for legitimate music downloads, a beefy selection of musical genres and, no subscription fee and no limits on burning songs to CDs. Snagging music from the Internet hasn’t been this simple since the Napster days,” wrires Ron Harris for Associated Press.
Harris continues, “The sound quality was superb. Apple uses the AAC compressed audio file format, which seems to outperform the more prevalent MP3s. These files can be burned to CDs by clicking the ‘burn’ button. The results worked fine in the iBook’s and my other CD players. I also compared the Outkast AAC files with a store-bought copy, and I couldn’t tell the difference in sound quality. I’m told that audiophiles pumping compressed digital music files through expensive stereos systems can hear imperfections not found on store-bought CDs. So I asked an audiophile acquaintance and fellow newbie Music Store user for a second opinion. ‘The quality of the downloaded music is quite good,’ said Edward Kiruluta, of Seattle. Kiruluta burned CDs from the first songs he downloaded with Music Store and played them through his $4,000 Super Audio CD player.”
Full article here.
Pretty good article, although I found his comment about the album price not working for him a little odd. He said usually most albums are 2 hits and 8 misses, but that’s exactly why the ITMS is so great. Hit the hits, miss the misses, and you don’t pay for music you don’t want. However, if you do want the whole album, $9.99 is usually cheaper than you’ll find it at the record store and almost always cheaper than buying them individually through ITMS.