I’ve been tempted as of late to try some online services that sell music not in compressed formats. Today I purchased two albums from Linn records in Scotland. Their digital downloads come in three flavors: mp3, cd quality, or “studio masters.” I downloaded 24 bit flac files, and the albums each weighed in at around 1 GB. I used a program to convert those to Apple lossless. I edited the album info, then added their HQ artwork via iTunes.

More trouble than amazon or iTunes store for sure. But the sound has a perceptible improvement! Smoothness would best describe the quality. Also a tinge more “liveness” to the sound. Dynamics, perhaps?

It’s akin to a small hifi upgrade. I just hope it gets easier to procure more albums more easily soon.

Buxtehude Sonatas , op. 2, and Vivaldi, op. 8, part two, both featuring violinist Stefano Montanari.