Unlike the other services, Society of Sound is a subscription based service that gives you the opportunity to download music from the current catalog and get a new album each month. That’s exactly what B&W has been looking to address with the launch of it’s Society of Sound online music catalog. However, if you don’t have good source music, even the best speakers and the best technology will be wasted. The feature appears to kick in after the return period has passed for the physical product.Ĥ) B&W Society of Sound: B&W is best known for their superlative, reference speakers. Recently, Amazon has introduced a neat, new feature where if you buy a physical CD or LP, you will have the rights to also download digital versions of that song at no extra cost.
Amazon is a good alternative for those seeking a larger music catalog but don’t want to be part of the iTunes ecosystem. You can then manage the music in the app of your choice (iTunes, JRiver, etc). With Amazon, you get free cloud storage for your purchased music and an application to help you download your purchases. Though not as good a codec as Apples AAC audio, MP3 at 256k is a decent quality file. Downloads are available in 256k MP3 files. If you’re into Top 40 music or alternative, then HD Tracks isn’t for you.ģ) Amazon MP3 Store: Amazon’s MP3 store is another alternative to iTunes. HD Tracks catalog is especially appealing to those who like classical music, jazz, classic rock and roll. In many cases, you can even get the recordings in 96/24 or 192/24 for the highest fidelity. That means, you can download content on the site in AIFF or WAV (CD quality) or in high-res (Apple Lossless or FLAC) formats. HD Tracks has a much, much narrower catalog of music than iTunes however, depending on the track, HD Track offers you a selection of CD-quality and original master downloads in lossless formats. 2) HD Tracks: HD Tracks has stood in contrast to iTunes on a very basic premise: the highest quality master recordings you can get digitally.