Apple Music High Res

I don’t know about music files purchased from Apple Music, but for non-purchased “borrowed” files, you just delete them and download the now current lossless version.

Thanks, Jim. I had moved all of my Apple music files to another directory and play them from there. When I download an album now I get the AAC version. :frowning:

Can I redownload my iTunes purchases in lossless?

“If you subscribe to Apple Music, you can redownload music in lossless only from the Apple Music catalog.”

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT212183

I have never purchased any files from Apple Music. I had some downloaded but not purchased files. I deleted all of them so I would always stream lossless from Apple Music. Of course, I have to use an iPhone or iPad to listen to them. I don’t have a MAC and PC is not lossless with Apple Music.

Hmm, interesting. I have a load of albums I bought on iTunes - I wonder if the ability to download the lossless versions works on a free trial? Or maybe I just subscribe for a month. But I don’t want Apple Music messing with my collection :upside_down_face:

Rockhound, if your music isn’t in the Apple Music folder it shouldn’t touch it.

1 Like

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/252848263

“ However, you are correct that the new lossless option is only for Apple Music subscriptions, and does not apply to purchases in the iTunes Store.”

Apple is not upgrading any existing purchases of music. The article Jim pointed to is carefully worded but Apple requires you to have an Apple Music subscription to access lossless and if you download lossless versions of albums you own, they are protected by Apple DRM. That means no playing them back in Roon, only Apple Music.

Sadly, we only own the AAC files.

2 Likes

Thanks. It’s all on a NAS that the basic Apple Music app on my MacBook Pro doesn’t point to, so I guess should be OK.

I have only one word for Apple, but it is not suitable for a family audience… Always suspected Apple Music was a bit of a scam.

2 Likes

But, if you’re into streaming music outside of Roon, lossless and high resolution for $10 per month from Apple Music is a pretty good deal. Depending on your cellular plan, you might get it for free. And, it always works.

1 Like

Scam on your downloads ? Sure. Not offering upgrades is a ■■■■■■ move.

That being said, Apple offer high res, spatial audio and support for your local files (uploaded and streamed to any device) at $10 a month. It’s difficult to argue that’s anything other than stellar value.

2 Likes

Yeah, but I can’t play it on my main system in the simple way I use Roon, so it’s always going to be behind Tidal or Spotify which, if I want to, I can play direct to my Lumin T2. So it’s not a contender. If I’m not in the house, I’m using radio/HDD in the car or, in the unlikely event that I’m traveling these days, a load of albums on my S22 with USB Audio Pro, Helm Audio USB DAC and headphones - or Tidal/Spotify if I’m able to stream. Right now, there is no place for it in my music ecosystem :man_shrugging:

1 Like

I’m surprised that your system doesn’t have airplay (or chromecast if you use android).

Makes sense though if the other services work much better.

I just downloaded Diana Krall Hi-Res Lossless in 24/96 to my iPhone. I’m playing it back to my Mojo 2 and Focal Clear headphones. So, if I wanted to go to the bother to download a bunch of albums, I could save a lot of cellular data when away from home.

One album took 1.18 GB in high resolution, so I have room for almost 200 albums on my iPhone and 50 more on 2 iPads. I’m just not up to choosing which 10 percent of my Apple Music albums to download, much less doing it.

Of course, this is the Apple Music streaming subscription and downloads are just “rented,” not purchased. But, they are playing at the proper resolution.

Sure, it has airplay - but why would I use that over Roon’s protocols?

Well, I changed my mind and downloaded 20 lossless albums and used 16.48GB of space on my iPhone. Those are probably 20 albums I would purchase if I was buying music. I’ll download some more tomorrow.

Don’t forget, the music label is also involved. Like any of the other streaming services, Apple Music is a middleman delivery service and must handle streaming music files according to license agreements. The license does not allow streamed files to be playable outside of their own service. The consumer must purchase music files separately if they want to do that.

As for Apple upgrading previously purchased AAC files, again that goes back to dealing with the music labels. They would consider the previous transaction to be a done deal and would charge Apple for a new download. It would be a nice gesture if Apple covers the cost, but it’s their business decision.

Obviously. There was no doubt as to why they don’t do the upgrade, it just sucks.

You said there was no way to integrate it into your system, airplay was one.

As for why you would use that over Roon? You wouldn’t but you mentioned that you have Spotify, so I assumed that you weren’t married to using RAAT.

So far, I have downloaded 51 lossless albums to my iPhone and used 40GB of space. This seems like another reason to purchase a new Macbook Air M2. I could download all 1300 albums I have in Apple Music and cut way back on my cellular plan. I would need to keep my iPhone plan to get free Apple Music, but I could drop my 2 iPad plans at $15 each. I would not need that 60GB of hotspot data when away from home. Too many decisions now days.

Sure I could use airplay but it doesn’t sound as good as Roon, and no hi-res. I have Spotify, although I cancelled my subscription, and Tidal so if Roon wasn’t available for some reason I would not be without music.

1 Like