iTunes vs. Zune Marketplace

Which store has the most prog? I use iTunes, and they tend to either not have prog bands at all, or only a limited discography (no early Genesis, for instance). Is Zune any better? I'm happy with my iPod for now, but if I ever look to upgrade this would be a factor in the decision.

Darn.... well I guess technically the same thing could be said about a CD..... but you get the actual tactile CD, booklet with lyrics/information and artwork, also.

Edited by explodingjosh - November 15 2007 at 18:35

My opinion on formats of music that you pay for:

HDCD>DVD-Audio>SACD>CD>Vinyl>Tape>8 Track Tape>Sheet music>Warped Vinyl>AAC file=mp3 file

...to give you an idea of where I'm coming from

Just buy CDs. They give you a chance to leave your damn house

emusic and napster absolutely sexually assault both. Death to DRM!

Edited by Ghandi 2 - November 16 2007 at 00:58

explodingjosh wrote: My opinion on formats of music that you pay for: HDCD>DVD-Audio>SACD>CD>Vinyl>Tape>8 Track Tape>Sheet music>Warped Vinyl>AAC file=mp3 file ...to give you an idea of where I'm coming from

... the land of preconceptions?

mp3 and other "lossy" formats come in many different qualities ... if you take mp3 256kbit for example, there have been many listening tests which showed that it was almost impossible to tell them apart from the real source (CD).

So this is how I see it:

SACD>DVD-Audio>CD>256kbit-mp3>Vinyl>128kbit-mp3>Tape>64kbit-mp3>Warped Vinyl

As far as iTunes vs. Zune is concerned: Of course I choose neither ... the Napster Flat Rate is much better suited for people who want to listen to many different albums each month.

MikeEnRegalia wrote: explodingjosh wrote: My opinion on formats of music that you pay for: HDCD>DVD-Audio>SACD>CD>Vinyl>Tape>8 Track Tape>Sheet music>Warped Vinyl>AAC file=mp3 file ...to give you an idea of where I'm coming from ... the land of preconceptions? mp3 and other "lossy" formats come in many different qualities ... if you take mp3 256kbit for example, there have been many listening tests which showed that it was almost impossible to tell them apart from the real source (CD). So this is how I see it: SACD>DVD-Audio>CD>256kbit-mp3>Vinyl>128kbit-mp3>Tape>64kbit-mp3>Warped Vinyl As far as iTunes vs. Zune is concerned: Of course I choose neither ... the Napster Flat Rate is much better suited for people who want to listen to many different albums each month.

Ah but you forgot about FLAC! For those who don't know it's a lossless audio encoder, so you're virtually losing no quality from that of a CD! Only problem is an entire album takes up about 300 MB of space...

Also not just bitrates determine the quality of an MP3 file. In all honesty a 128 kbps rip mp3 encoded with Lame would equal about that of a 160 kbps encoded with iTunes. Other things such as bit depth and mode make a difference too. Also if it's a transcode the quality will be lessened greatly!


Edited by Fight Club - November 30 2007 at 00:22

rileydog22 wrote: Fight Club wrote: Also not just bitrates determine the quality of an MP3 file. In all honesty a 128 kbps rip mp3 encoded with FLAC would equal about that of a 160 kbps encoded with iTunes. Other things such as bit depth and mode make a difference too. Also if it's a transcode the quality will be lessened greatly! Huh?  Regardless of whether it's in FLAC or MP3, once you've brought it down to 128 you've permanently lost part of the sound.  Converting it back to FLAC simply makes it take up more space, it doesn't improve the sound quality one bit.

Lol... I wasn't talking about converting mp3 to FLAC, I meant ripping it to FLAC directly from the CD. MP3 to FLAC would be a transcode which would make the quality significantly worse than it already is.

OH i just realized I worded that wrong. I meant encoded with LAME. My bad!

Fight Club wrote: MikeEnRegalia wrote: SACD>DVD-Audio>CD>256kbit-mp3>Vinyl>128kbit-mp3>Tape>64kbit-mp3>Warped Vinyl As far as iTunes vs. Zune is concerned: Of course I choose neither ... the Napster Flat Rate is much better suited for people who want to listen to many different albums each month. Ah but you forgot about FLAC! For those who don't know it's a lossless audio encoder, so you're virtually losing no quality from that of a CD! Only problem is an entire album takes up about 300 MB of space... Also not just bitrates determine the quality of an MP3 file. In all honesty a 128 kbps rip mp3 encoded with Lame would equal about that of a 160 kbps encoded with iTunes. Other things such as bit depth and mode make a difference too. Also if it's a transcode the quality will be lessened greatly!

About FLAC: I didn't mention it because its quality is exactly equal to CD ... it's a digital copy.

About mp3 encoders: Of course the best available encoder should be used ... LAME is the way to go!

Tommydouglas wrote: I'm a Mac person, so I stick with iTunes. Let's face it, Mac is better in so many ways...but I digress ;). I'm impressed with the growing Insideout catalogue on iTunes--I'm discovering Flower Kings via the iTunes catalogue. I feel a bit better paying 10 bucks for a FK recording on iTunes then paying 20 bucks via Amazon.ca

And on eMusic.com you pay even less ... for high quality mp3s:

http://www.emusic.com/browse/l/b/-dbm/a/0-0/1400121863/0.html




Edited by MikeEnRegalia - December 01 2007 at 02:33