Now, since we're in this forum...that's a bunch of marketing BS. Looks good, but ugh! Quote:
| “When T Bone introduced me to CODE, it was a remarkable experience. I could hear the music the way it was intended to be heard. I’m very happy the people are going to be able to share this experience in a way that’s so true to our original intent." |
...which had nothing to do with this symbol-addled CODE thing. It's all been available since DVDs hit the shelves back in the 90s. You could do it without putting ΧΟΔΕ transfer software on the disc, and have the same audio stream coming out. Not that it is bad that DVD Video is being put to good use, with DVD Audio flopping, just that
none of the audio-related comments/features have anything to do with this ΧΟΔΕ format over standard DVD. I don't see any info on whether there is some confidence of quality mastering built in to the use of the ΧΟΔΕ label (though it looks like that is the spirit of it, which is very very very cool, and I hope it will become common).
If you have a CD, too, then you do have the fourth, 44.1/16, option. iTunes should happily make ALACs, and between a new disc and iTunes' ECC turned on, it'll be nearly perfect (perfect, as defined by having every sample of even those seconds of complete digital silence that usually are part of the beginning and end of the album).
With 96/24 WAV from the DVD, though...I'd let the software do its thing, and maybe convert to FLAC or ALAC later (smaller, and you get tagging). If you want it lossy, too, then get them all. Even for 96/24 (about 3x CD), hard drive space isn't that expensive. Whether you hear a difference or not, 96/24 non-lossy makes for a good archive, and for DACs that don't do it, quality resampling and bit-depth reduction is available (I don't know how well OS X fares at sampling down, or if you'd need other software).
Finally, and more or less OT, having not heard of this before: $10/free shipping? Are the big four going to find something to sue Starbucks over to stop this, or what? I know I was just getting annoyed with market-speak and all, but while I wouldn't go for Mellencamp, this is exactly the dead horse us physical media lovers have been thwacking our clubs on for over a decade, now. If it's a good recording with good mastering (the real important bit), this is just what we've been wanting for ages ($15+ is still typical for new CD B&M, and Amazon typically isn't terribly lower, when I have a look, and I can be assured that most are compressed to hell and/or clipping).
Throw in some good transfers (if a mixed tape still exists in good shape) or good remasters of some Stax stuff (as it stands, looking for some can be a chaotic venture, sometimes), and I'll be practically inhaling ΧΟΔΕ packages...I might even visit Starbucks once or twice
.
