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Best Quality Downloads... itunes OR amazon ?


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Old 17-04-2011, 20:53
Jaymitch1
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where is best to download. i currently have itunes, but have to say that the download quality is absolutly nowhere near as good as CD quality, and i find it strange they charge 99p for such low quality.
i have heard amazon is better? is this true?
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Old 17-04-2011, 21:22
grazman
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where is best to download. i currently have itunes, but have to say that the download quality is absolutly nowhere near as good as CD quality, and i find it strange they charge 99p for such low quality.
i have heard amazon is better? is this true?
well all mp3's arent as good as CD but the only one i bought on amazon had a bitrate of 188kbps and sounds excellent. Dont know what the bitrate is of itunes downloads but if its 128kbps then yes they arnt very good mp3's. Anything around 192kbps and above generally sounds near enough CD quality.
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Old 17-04-2011, 21:38
rfonzo
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I think Amazon is better quality, sometimes itunes is a bit quiet.
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Old 17-04-2011, 21:52
WafcSean
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iTunes bitrate is 256kbps, it sounds excellent and i do not see why the OP is saying it sounds poor, surely you cannot distinguish a big difference between CD and iTunes without a massive amount of work.

If Amazon MP3's are 188kbps and iTunes bitrate is 256kbps, iTunes should have better quality.

Are you sure it isn't anything to do with your speakers?
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Old 17-04-2011, 22:10
tortfeasor
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I've downloaded quite a few things from Amazon. It's been a mixture of bitrates. I've also found the same if I've ever downloaded from HMV. I've noticed that the majority (though not all) new releases from Amazon are usually either 256kbps or 320kbps. However older songs have been 128kbps in a lot of cases but then again I downloaded The Carpenters' version of 'There's A Kind of Hush,' the other day and that was 256kbps.
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Old 17-04-2011, 22:12
theozhang
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The problem with this debate is that 'quality' is ultimately quite subjective. If you think one sounds better than the other then don't buy it, there will be others that prefer how the other sounds.

Ultimately any from of sound reproduction will involve loss, and MP3 and M4A 'pick and choose' what to keep in different ways, and it really just depends on what you prefer.

Even between bitrates, anything above about 192 there will be a large element of subjectivity in what people think sounds better.
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Old 17-04-2011, 22:40
newda898
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i tend to use Play.com who use 320 bitrates on Mp3. Amazon always seems to be 256 whenever I've bought stuff from there.
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Old 18-04-2011, 00:34
SpaceToilets
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Play and 7Digital do 320s
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Old 18-04-2011, 01:59
gemma-the-husky
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play are virtualy all 320, and are often 79p , or 89p
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Old 18-04-2011, 02:02
grazman
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buy the CD, better still buy vinyl
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Old 18-04-2011, 02:05
Carmen Queasy
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People don't care about quality anymore. As long as they get the track they're after they give little shit. People would gladly accept a radio rip if it was the only download available. It's such a step backwards having the main format - for singles anyway - being compressed digital files.
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Old 18-04-2011, 09:12
Dharma572
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Haha.... I can't even tell the difference!
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Old 18-04-2011, 09:50
Iggyman
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buy the CD, better still buy vinyl
Quite. I always buy CDs and only buy tracks from iTunes, etc out of impatience or as 'samplers' - if it's something that I really like then I'll always buy it on CD.
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