I wrote separately to JA asking why the ITUNES description of my downloaded MP3 file changed from "compressed" to "lossless" -- and now shows the Red Book sample rate = 44 kHz and sample size = 16 bit.

John's patient reply is shown below -- ITUNES is only stating that the envelop is now 16/44 -- not that the information stored in the envelop is 16/44.

So, I stand corrected on my second point -- but I stand pat on John Mark's suggestion that we create demo disks comparing PCM 24/96 downloads from ITRAX with the corresponding MP3 downloads from ITUNES -- and on my third point that MacBooks can pass PCM 24/96 information through a Toslink cable to our receivers.

I apologize for any confusion, but we all should be concerned that ITUNES clearly states, This file is "Lossless 16/44" when it clearly is not. Why not develop an industry-standard disclaimer that says, "This is compressed MP3 information stored in a 16/44 file".

Dave

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JA's explanation -- You are right about iTunes converting the 128kbps AAC to Apple Lossless. But remember that the lossless file format doesn't define the audio quality of the data it contains. That still depends on the original file format.

If you convert a 128 kbps AAC file to lossless, it will still preserve the original quality of the file. But that original quality has already been damaged by a lossy codec, which threw away most of the audio quality to get the data rate down from 1.1M bps to 128 kpbs. Converting the compressed file to lossless will not get you back the quality of the original recording. JA