Well said. I have doubled my listening time over the last year.

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Well said. I have doubled my listening time over the last year.

Ditto that. I visit eMusic every few days or so, (I have a longstanding subscription), download new/old/sometimes unfamiliar music, and rip to CD via AIFF. The quality on CD is great, and I never lack for interesting music. These are good times for music lovers.

I'm with you guys. Not having a TV seems to be my best weapon!

the emusic downloads are mp3, no?

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the emusic downloads are mp3, no?

They are. Typical file size, for an average album, is between 65 - 105 Mb. Importing into iTunes using AIFF codec increases the file size by a factor of around 7x. (ex. 103 Mb file converts to 739 Mb file for Dave Holland's "Critical Mass"). I think it's a comparatively "weak sister" to downloading full-rez files from sources such as Linn or Music Giants, using FLAC or other codecs. Nonetheless, they sound very good!

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the emusic downloads are mp3, no?

They are. Typical file size, for an average album, is between 65 - 105 Mb. Importing into iTunes using AIFF codec increases the file size by a factor of around 7x. (ex. 103 Mb file converts to 739 Mb file for Dave Holland's "Critical Mass"). I think it's a comparatively "weak sister" to downloading full-rez files from sources such as Linn or Music Giants, using FLAC or other codecs. Nonetheless, they sound very good!

Why are you importing them as AIFF if they are originally MP3? The only thing that would do is make the file bigger without increasing sound quality. Am I missing something?

.."Why are you importing them as AIFF if they are originally MP3? The only thing that would do is make the file bigger without increasing sound quality. Am I missing something?"

I stand corrected re. my flawed interpretation! There is really no substitute for hi-rez download formats. I still enjoy my little piece of musical nirvana though, imperfect tho it may be..

The largest part of my digital library is in the form of "store bought" CDs (most of them obtained locally, I'm happy to say).

And thanks for your gentle admonition.

I hope that didn't come off sound like a shot at you. It wasn't, I just bring it up because there's no point in wasting hard drive space because as far as I can figure transposing MP3's to AIFF offer no performance or use advantage.

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I hope that didn't come off sound like a shot at you. It wasn't, I just bring it up because there's no point in wasting hard drive space because as far as I can figure transposing MP3's to AIFF offer no performance or use advantage.

No offense taken - when I'm wrong, I'm wrong - and happy to stand corrected.

yessir, if they are mp3, get them at the highest bit rate you can..and dont worry about transcoding to FLAC or some such... youll gain no quality and lose space.

cant gain what was never there.

I'm old school and all this downloading is new to me. All I have is a run-of-the-mill computer to read my e-mails etc. Is it worth my paying to down load music or would I just be better off going out and purchasing the CD?

Inquiring ears want to know. Thanks.

There are a small number of sites that have CD resolution or higher downloads (linn which are above, HDGiants which are CD quality, HDtracks which allow the user to pick the resolution) but the main download (iTunes, Amazon, Rhapsody) sites are MP3 files which are of course lower than CD sound quality. But then with the higher than CD resolution files there is the challenge of playing them on a stereo system. There are a large number of options most of them require at least a little DIY computer knowledge.

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There are a large number of options most of them require at least a little DIY computer knowledge.

Thanks, mrlowry, for the insight. It's time to put on my thinking hat!

Products from Slim Devices or PS Audio's new DAC which was announced at CES (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKm6zDAb7G4) can act as an interface between the computer and the audio system.

Thanks for the heads-up. I'll check into these devices.