[CUBE] itunes store music quaility

[Todd Masco]

Kunga sed:
> I rip 'em at 160 kbps AAC. Apple only sells 128 kbps AAC files.

Note that all AACs of the same bitrate are not created equally.

The codec used for a particular conversion can have a huge impact on 
the quality of the conversion.  Apple uses a professional version of 
the consumer codec they provide with iTunes, so an Apple-created 128 
Kbps AAC could potentially sound substantially better than a 
consumer-created 128 Kbps AAC.  In my tests, a track bought from them 
sounded much better than the same track ripped by me into a 128Kbps AAC 
made by iTunes.

That said, I agree that 128 Kbps AACs from the iTunes store are of 
lower quality than I would like.  The only tracks I buy from them are 
singles for which I would have a 0 likelihood of buying a whole album, 
and tracks that are exclusive to the iTMS.  Of course, I would have 
that policy for anything short of CD quality regardless.

	-- Todd