Are all iTunes Store songs at 128Kbits?

[Amen-Moses]

I just bought my first album from the iTunes store - The Very Best of Fleetwood Mac to be precise - and it is 128Kbits aac which to be blunt is absolutely awful.

I usually convert at 160Kbits for aac and at least 192Kbits for Mp3 which gives reasonable sound quality but 128K is pretty poor quality (you can hear the difference even on my MacBook Pro which is not exactly a HiFi system).

I there anyway to download from the Store in better quality (i.e at least CD quality)?

If not then that will be my one and only download.

Amen-Moses

 

[unclescrotor]

I think all the music is encoded at 128kb. I downloaded one album a couple of years ago and that finished it for me. A buck a song for FM quality is just not right.

 

[Dimitri]

There might be the occasional song at a higher bitrate, but you're stuck with what they give you. In my experience, older recordings can sound bad at 128kbps, but newer stuff sounds pretty good in comparison.

 

[slashjunior]

This is one reason I refuse to buy music through downloads. Only when they offer it in LAME VBR alt-preset standard will I even consider parting with my cash. I will stick with the flexibility of CDs for now.