iTunes 9.1 Adds New Book Section, Automatic 128 kbps AAC Format Conversion

Wow! what a disappointment. A long sought after feature: down-convert lossless audio files while syncing to an I-device. They missed the mark. The target customer who stores lossless music does so for one reason: you enjoy the fidelity on a home system. For the discriminating ear, 128kbps is too lossy and it is a discernable loss of fidelity even whether the you listen with cheap headphones or quality headphones. You require at least 258kbps for a tolerable music experience. The irony here is the I-tunes music library was criticized for years because they provided only 128kbps music. Thanks goodness they remedied that problem by providing a 256kbps format. Now, they bring that old issue front and center with a limited conversion to the old 128 standard. Oy!

Mark, if you don't like it, don't check the box. No need to be disappointed by a new option. Some folks might trade the loss in quality to get more content on their portable. It's nice that you can still keep your high quality version on the computer where you have plenty of drive space.

Mark, if you don't like it, don't check the box. No need to be disappointed by a new option. Some folks might trade the loss in quality to get more content on their portable. It's nice that you can still keep your high quality version on the computer where you have plenty of drive space.