[SurroundSound] Re: Apple in talks to improve sound quality of music downloads

This is a very sore subject for me, as both an Apple Mac user and a
home theater fan.

The first step would be getting to lossless CD quality audio on
iTunes. Worry about high-res after that.

Now for my psychopathic rant on Apple. The iPod/iPhone/iPad has
turned Apple into what I derisively call an "iToy" company and the Mac
is left to wither on the vine and slowly rot. Where once Apple
pioneered adoption of new technology such as firewire, now it eschews
new technology. No support for Blu-Ray, HDMI *, multichannel audio,
USB3, eSATA, 30-bit deep color, and the list goes on and on. The Mac
Pro (high end tower) has video cards generations behind the latest on
the PC. The Mac Mini and Mac Pro often languish for years between
updates. Not a single Mac has ever shipped with analog multichannel
audio support, and none support any form of it aside from the last Mac
Mini.

* = the latest Mac Mini, and only it, supports HDMI and claims to
support multichannel audio over HDMI.

A lot of Pro users (Final Cut Pro, Logic Pro, etc.) are getting very
nervous about Apple's change in priorities.

The Mac *used to be* the best platform for consuming and creating
content, but that's no longer true, sadly. So I don't look for Apple
to be a pioneer in this area.

I'm glad to see some record execs pushing for it, but then again their
job is to generate demand for music and this may be yet another format
shift (one I'd be in favor of). Maybe the iTunes store will
eventually move into HDTracks territory. But even HDTracks doesn't
put up multichannel material.

The steps on the journey I see are:

(1) Sell lossless files on iTunes (and competitors)
(2) Sell high-res files
(3) Sell surround files.

We're quite a way away from that day, and Apple is not going to be
leading the charge IMO.

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