[Darksyde]

When I buy a song from iTunes, and use the "Make WAV Version" function on a MP4 file (the type that you get from iTunes), am I getting a WAV-lossless quality file?

 

[fjrabon]

no. You're getting a 256 kbps AAC file that has null information added to it to take up the same size as a wav.

 

[fjrabon]

I have used this technique to test some of my audiophile friends who swear up and down they can hear the difference between lossless and 256 kbps. They pretty uniformly are no better than guessing.

 

[tintin47]

No. There is no way to increase the fidelity once it has been compressed. You can make a wav file that is much bigger, but it contains the same amount of signal information.

 

[Darksyde]

Alright, thanks guys. Looks like iTunes is even more of a rip-off then I had previously thought it to be >.>

 

[krmathis]

Yes! A WAV file without loss from the AAC one that is, which is what 'lossless' refers to.
It will of course never restore the audio data thrown away when Apple (or record label) encoded the AAC in the first place though.