MP5? Apple Less-than-lossless?

A few weeks ago rumours appeared suggesting Apple may be about to release a new music file format, one that would make music sound better. Well, suggestions are that this will see the light of day at an imminent product launch Apple have scheduled. Also, over the weekend I noticed the company behind the maths that made MP3 possible had launched a new way of making sound better on mobile phones.

An idle thought - MP4 is taken for movie files - so maybe this will be MP5? From Apple's perspective a new format, now, will cause a headache for them and their users. Generally better sound means more hard drive space. This won't help Apple directly as they buy in drives and it will put more pressure on the ageing iPod Classic, more than due an upgrade. Bigger files would be a major ouch for iPhone users too.

If I were Apple, why? Well someone is going to do it so it might as well be you. It would head off an interloper gaining traction within iTunes, it would keep the iPod / iPhone / iPad ahead of the game. maybe it would give Apple a toe hold in non IOS areas too. However they'd probably have to re-encode their entire iTunes Music Store library to keep their Music Match function operable and that's no small task.

I think it would be a positive move, one we'd jump on and would be appreciated by our clients. Better sound, what's not to like?

Game, Set and iTunes Match

I was asked a question last night and suddenly had a shock to remember this CD ripping business is still operating. Some years ago somebody suggested iTunes and iTunes Music Sore would be transformed into a cloud based service. Rather than ripping CDs and storing them locally, then adding to that music archive with purchased tracks, all our music would be moved away to a gigantic data centre in America.

What then would be the point of having a CD ripping business, focusing on care and service, wouldn't Apple be doing that all for us?

I'm pleased to say iTunes Match - the cloud based option - is now with us, and podServe is still here, ripping more CDs than ever. Why? Well, even if you adopt iTunes Match, you still have to have a ripped track to start with, you can't just say you've got this and that CD which then appears in your library. You aren't given Spotify type access to their back catalogue and yes you have to pay for it.

iTunes match in the UK costs about half the price of a big USB drive per year. As an off-site backup option it isn't greatly compelling (it doesn't handle photos for example). Plus if you have high quality music (Apple Lossless or AIFF) you'll experience a drop in quality. I have mixed feelings, but I'm unequivocally glad we're still here, ripping CDs, untouched and unmatched.