Apple Music High Res Windows
Evagret Homestead
I've recently been on the deep dive of lossless music and I'm trying to find a way to play ALAC through my windows PC. I tried using iTunes and setting the playback to 24bit/96kHz (the max my Schiit Modi DAC can output), but when I view the properties of the Apple Music file being played, it always says it playing an AAC file maxed out at 256kbps. I have also tried using the Apple Music Preview app downloaded from the Microsoft Store and set the streaming audio quality to Hi-Res Lossless, yet the file properties still say it is playing back an AAC file as opposed to an ALAC file. When I insert a CD and use iTunes to play it back I get standard CD quality (16bit/44.1kHz or 1411kbps). So clearly iTunes can playback lossless audio, but not from Apple Music. When I do side-by-side comparisons between CD and Apple Music of the same song, I can clearly hear the difference, and I want to be able to use my Apple Music subscription to the fullest and stream lossless audio.
Also on windows. This is unacceptable. I only just noticed it today after prodding around. Why limit your features based on what platform your customers are on? I use a macbook pro for work, windows for personal. There's no excuse for this.
Not sure if it is true lossless. Yes, the symbol is there, but file properties still show 256 AAC, even with full lossless settings enabled. Need to connect to external DAC and check, if the app supports bit-perfect output
Using apple music preview, to me unless this is just an issue with the music player displaying incorrect info, the only way to fix this right now is to just download the songs with the Hi-Res setting on (I, like other users, had it on for streaming but apparently not working, unless again it's just a display bug).
For example here when I stream it, it is 256 AAC, but after downloading the song, you can see the file size increased tenfold, and is now HLS type file-which as others mentioned is Apple encrypted lossless file. Unless you have a lot of storage this solution still kind of sucks, and really hope the devs will change this soon. Also, strange side note but when I first played the downloaded song my windows audio settings changed and I had to go back into the sound device settings to set it back to 24/192. At the end of the day the AAC-->ALAC improvement is small compared to the improvement from, say, spotify "highest" quality to Apple AAC, but this is really inconvenient still.
I hope that a future update will fix the issue! However, I've noticed that when downloading the music and checking the properties, the file is no longer AAC but HLS (encrypted ALAC). In short, it works, but not for streaming
Nope files are way too small 7-9mb each. average lossless is at least 20-30mb at least. Bit of a downer as all my good gear is set up on my pc (headphones and amp). Be good to utilise them to their fullest on here. I have an iphone so can still run some good audio but without an amp it can be sub-optimal. Hope they fix this but probably a punishment for being PC and not Mac. Used to love mac products but they are proving time and again to be behind the curve now.
Funny you should ask. I've been testing Tidal as of late. I think it has the edge in terms of library and UX. Also, the difference between CD quality and lossless is nonexistent to my ear so I'd look at the CD tier only. It sounds great.
It's not working this way on my Windows 11 machine and Apple Music 1.4.4.33. The file size doesn't change and the downloaded file plays on a hi-res capable platform as an AAC file. My whole reason for getting Apple music was to be able to upgrade my purchases to hi-res.
Apple Inc. is an American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Cupertino, California, in Silicon Valley. It designs, develops, and sells consumer electronics, computer software, and online services. Devices include the iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, Vision Pro, and Apple TV; operating systems include iOS, iPadOS, and macOS; and software applications and services include iTunes, iCloud, Apple Music, and Apple TV+.
Since 2011, Apple has been the world's largest company by market capitalization except when Microsoft held the position between January and June 2024.[6][7][8] In 2022, Apple was the largest technology company by revenue, with US$394.3 billion.[9][failed verification] As of 2023[update], Apple was the fourth-largest personal computer vendor by unit sales,[10] the largest manufacturing company by revenue, and the largest vendor of mobile phones in the world.[11] It is one of the Big Five American information technology companies, alongside Alphabet (the parent company of Google), Amazon, Meta (the parent company of Facebook), and Microsoft.
Apple was founded as Apple Computer Company on April 1, 1976, to produce and market Steve Wozniak's Apple I personal computer. The company was incorporated by Wozniak and Steve Jobs in 1977. Its second computer, the Apple II, became a best seller as one of the first mass-produced microcomputers. Apple introduced the Lisa in 1983 and the Macintosh in 1984, as some of the first computers to use a graphical user interface and a mouse. By 1985, the company's internal problems included the high cost of its products and power struggles between executives. That year Jobs left Apple to form NeXT, Inc., and Wozniak withdrew to other ventures. The market for personal computers expanded and evolved throughout the 1990s, and Apple lost considerable market share to the lower-priced Wintel duopoly of the Microsoft Windows operating system on Intel-powered PC clones.
In 1997, Apple was weeks away from bankruptcy. To resolve its failed operating system strategy and entice Jobs's return, it bought NeXT. Over the next decade, Jobs guided Apple back to profitability through several tactics including introducing the iMac, iPod, iPhone, and iPad to critical acclaim, launching the "Think different" campaign and other memorable advertising campaigns, opening the Apple Store retail chain, and acquiring numerous companies to broaden its product portfolio. Jobs resigned in 2011 for health reasons, and died two months later. He was succeeded as CEO by Tim Cook.
Apple has received criticism regarding its contractors' labor practices, its environmental practices, and its business ethics, including anti-competitive practices and materials sourcing. Nevertheless, it has a large following and a high level of brand loyalty. It has been consistently ranked as one of the world's most valuable brands.
Apple Computer, Inc. was incorporated on January 3, 1977,[23][24] without Wayne, who had left and sold his share of the company back to Jobs and Wozniak for $800 only twelve days after having co-founded it.[25] Multimillionaire Mike Markkula provided essential business expertise and funding of $250,000 (equivalent to $1,257,000 in 2023) to Jobs and Wozniak during the incorporation of Apple.[26] During the first five years of operations, revenues grew exponentially, doubling about every four months. Between September 1977 and September 1980, yearly sales grew from $775,000 to US$118 million, an average annual growth rate of 533%.[27]
The Apple II was chosen to be the desktop platform for the first killer application of the business world: VisiCalc, a spreadsheet program released in 1979.[29] VisiCalc created a business market for the Apple II and gave home users an additional reason to buy an Apple II: compatibility with the office,[29] but Apple II market share remained behind home computers made by competitors such as Atari, Commodore, and Tandy.[31][32]
On December 12, 1980, Apple (ticker symbol "AAPL") went public selling 4.6 million shares at $22 per share ($.10 per share when adjusting for stock splits as of September 3, 2022[update]),[24] generating over $100 million, which was more capital than any IPO since Ford Motor Company in 1956.[33] By the end of the day, 300 millionaires were created, including Jobs and Wozniak, from a stock price of $29 per share[34] and a market cap of $1.778 billion.[33][34]
In December 1979, Steve Jobs and Apple employees, including Jef Raskin, visited Xerox PARC, where they observed the Xerox Alto, featuring a graphical user interface (GUI). Apple subsequently negotiated access to PARC's technology, leading to Apple's option to buy shares at a preferential rate. This visit influenced Jobs to implement a GUI in Apple's products, starting with the Apple Lisa. Despite being pioneering as a mass-marketed GUI computer, the Lisa suffered from high costs and limited software options, leading to commercial failure.
Jobs, angered by being pushed off the Lisa team, took over the company's Macintosh division. Wozniak and Raskin had envisioned the Macintosh as a low-cost computer with a text-based interface like the Apple II, but a plane crash in 1981 forced Wozniak to step back from the project. Jobs quickly redefined the Macintosh as a graphical system that would be cheaper than the Lisa, undercutting his former division.[35] Jobs was also hostile to the Apple II division, which at the time, generated most of the company's revenue.[36]
In 1984, Apple launched the Macintosh, the first personal computer without a bundled programming language.[37] Its debut was signified by "1984", a US$1.5 million television advertisement directed by Ridley Scott that aired during the third quarter of Super Bowl XVIII on January 22, 1984.[38] This was hailed as a watershed event for Apple's success[39] and was called a "masterpiece" by CNN[40] and one of the greatest TV advertisements of all time by TV Guide.[41]
The board of directors instructed Sculley to contain Jobs and his ability to launch expensive forays into untested products. Rather than submit to Sculley's direction, Jobs attempted to oust him from leadership.[46] Jean-Louis Gasse informed Sculley that Jobs had been attempting to organize a boardroom coup and called an emergency meeting at which Apple's executive staff sided with Sculley and stripped Jobs of all operational duties.[46] Jobs resigned from Apple in September 1985 and took several Apple employees with him to found NeXT.[47] Wozniak had also quit his active employment at Apple earlier in 1985 to pursue other ventures, expressing his frustration with Apple's treatment of the Apple II division and stating that the company had "been going in the wrong direction for the last five years".[36][48][49] Wozniak remained employed by Apple as a representative,[48] receiving a stipend estimated to be $120,000 per year.[21] Jobs and Wozniak remained Apple shareholders following their departures.[50]
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