All i gots to say people , is s**** the cynincs.
The bottom line is iTms is the best solution for legal paid downloads "period"
hopefully windows users will benefit from this soon.
And AAC is just fine, especially when burnt to CD and played
on high qualty speakers/amp

Eat s*** WinTrolls.....Apple is BACK. Just buy a G5 and get it over with, you KNOW YOU WANT IT.

a few hundred songs off the ITMS. Some singles but a majority of them as albums. No more cumbersome CD cases to stack up.

The AAC format is fine. All these folks that complain about it not being "hi-fidelity" are full of hogwash. I guess if I could afford $10,000 speakers a $0.99 128 AAC ITMS file would sound crappy. People got what they wanted, a legitimate method to sell and distribute music over the Internet. Now that they got it they need something to b**** about.

not important.

The important thing is that the whole world sees it as a success. It is hype, good hype. It raises the coolness factor of Apple. It erases the crashy, RAM-starved, slow Mac LC that some still use in school, from the mind of the general public.

now that the Frogs have lowered CD prices, maybe an iTunes price cut is due?

The AAC format is ok, but they should offer it a higher sample rate for audiophiles.

Apple: Install a Trance/Electronica section, and catgorize things in "Dance" a little better. Half that stuff isn't dance music - it's easy listening.

But who will first fill a 40GB iPod with 10,000 songs they actually paid up to $10,000 for?

Hey is there a program that re-rips AAC's back into MP3's? I'm bummed. I like putting 9 hours on a CD for the car player.

Not that iPod isn't cool.

Well the question actually is where else than in the USA?

Still waiting for the store up here in Canada...

...on my Decca ribbon based bookshelf speakers, my Sennheiser headphones & my replica Klipsh corner horns - to be honest I could hear the difference on the stock headphones that came with the iPod I bought & then sold within a week...

The convenience was amazing, but I found the audio disappointing... :-(

The music industry here also suffers the same piracy problem. People here simply need to know that there is a fair, easier and affordable way to acquire music. And as Mac user it would be great if Apple would be the FIRST to offer such services. I hope they release the iTMS windows version. Even wintel users will love Apple.

No where in that post earlier did I say I was listening at 120dB nominal. Most listening is done at 86dB with my Sony MDR-7506 studio headphones but I have tested all the way up to 120dB on a tri-amped professional sound system to ensure that the source materials are indentical. At all levels they are identical on quality reproduction equipment.

Im not meaning to pick a fight. But congradulations on not being able to hear the difference between CD and lossy compression. Now you don't have to spend $1000's on audio equipment. As others have said, they and I can hear a difference you just have to spend more on your speakers than you do on your favorite mac.

BTW, your $100 head phones are by far not 'studio quality'. Spend $2000 on some electrostatic head phones and we can talk.

a fight?

I highly doubt the claims of individuals that can "hear" the difference. I'll advocate that 99.9% of the population cannot tell the difference on ANY reproductive device in a double blind test. I cannot and I have well above average hearing. Do electronics stores drive you nuts because you can hear the transformers in TVs? They do me.

Considering I've tested this theory on huge crowds and sound systems approaching $80,000 switching between lossy format and digital outputs from CD decks. I have a tad more experience than the average theorist about what is perceptable as truly inferior.

BTW: I suppose you are one of those folks that thinks $200 wire sound better too? Some of you "audiophiles" are just too convinced that you hear something different just because it's exponentially more expensive or not bit-for-bit exact.