I need suggestions regarding my iTunes library, online music stores and why I shouldn't go back...

Yes. Go to Amazon and order it on CD. You'll wait a few days, but at least it'll be lossless.

This is the end of Western Civilization.

I highly doubt that. I don't see a transition away from physical media ever involving the media companies giving up any sort of control over the material.

The difference has a lot to do with the listening/ viewing environment. Someone who listens to music all the time may not notice any difference if he uses $10 earbuds. Someone who watches movies all the time may not notice any difference if he's sitting 10 feet away from a 32" TV with no external speakers.

If it mattered to enough people to make a financial difference, media companies might be more focused on quality over convenience.

For the most part, I have avoided buying digital files for a lot of reasons.
1. The bitrate is usually less than desired.
2. You can NEVER increase the bitrate
3. They rarely include artwork or liner notes
4. They cost more than they should.

For the above reasons, I have continued to buy CDs (Current collection is over 3000). A large percentage of these discs have been purchased used or at great discount (usually in the $5-$7) range and offer the following benefits.
1. You can rip and re-rip the discs to whatever format and bitrate you want. (I'm currently re-ripping all of my favorite discs to FLAC)
2. You can scan the artwork at whatever resolution you want. (I'm currently downloading and scanning high-res artwork for all of my favorite albums)
3. You can read the liner notes whenever you want.
4. The discs are usually cheaper than digital files.......and if I realize that I don't like it.....I can actually sell it and get a few bucks in return.....making it even cheaper.

To save space, I have converted the majority of my discs from Jewel Cases to Discsox. They aren't exactly cheap ($1+ per sleeve), but the space savings is amazing and I can keep all of the original artwork and booklets. http://www.mmdesign.com/

You're welcome. I hope that it helps.

I actually forgot to mention DRM. I've hated that concept from the very beginning and that was also a major reason that I have avoided buying digital files.

"Steve Jobs was a pioneer of digital music. His legacy is tremendous," Young said. "But when he went home, he listened to vinyl (albums)."

 

- Neil Young

 

Nuff Said.

 

JunoDownload.com sells lossless dance singles - if by "dance" you mean like electronica or other modern dance music. Be sure to select the lossless option, since they also sell (cheaper) lossy versions.

Like you, I rip lossless CDs, but am hoping that high-definition music (higher quality downloads than CDs) starts becoming much more common.

I share your dismay that some sites like HDTracks are starting to sell high-def music, but opting to start with music that is "Classic Rock" from the 1970s or 1960s. It is the studios' fault, of course, not HDTracks itself. But enough already with the fixation on the 1960s and 1970s. There is music from the last 30 years that should be released in high-def -- music from the 1980s onward, bands like Duran Duran, the Go-Gos, the Bangles, Missing Persons, Adam Ant, etc.

Randall, if you check ebay, you can sometimes find an abandoned music format called "DualDisc" which sometimes offered an album in slightly-better-than-CD-quality on the DVD side. That can be transferred to your iTunes with a little effort. Not many were made, but worth checking. Ones from Sony are usually no better (16bit/48khz) than the corresponding CDs (16 bit/44.1khz), but ones from other labels were sometimes as good as 24bit/96khz. I got Daniel Powter's DP album that way, in 24bit/48khz, which is great. And Fiona Apple's Extraordinary Machine, which is not great because it is only in 16bit/48khz -- not any better than a CD (in fact some believe Sony just upsampled the 16bit/44.1khz CD). As I said it took some effort to correctly get these into Apple Lossless without accidentally losing the higher quality, but if you need help just ask.

There hasn't been DRM for several years though - though I understand you were saying that was just yet another factor that initially turned you away.

Files bought from iTunes do have metadata that includes your name on it, and it can't be removed - as a way to discourage you from making a mix tape (er, mix-hard-drive) for your friends.

One thing that I still worry about, when I am downloading LOSSLESS files, is that there isn't any assurance that the files are really lossless. I can check them out after I've bought them with a program like Spectro, but before buying them you just have to hope and pray that whoever delivered the files to the online store (JunoDownload or whatever) knew what they were doing and didn't just take some lossy mp3s and upcovert them to lossless, hoping that the magical computer fairies would somehow restore the sound quality.

I'm also a CD ripper for the reasons most of you noted. I've moved to FLAC, stored on a NAS, and I don't rally use my DVDs anymore. So was considered moving to lossless downloads too, to avoid the jewel case. But couldn't find an online store with enough content to make it a worthwhile normal stop. I recently checked out HDTracks, and they're not bad, but again not much content. But it's probably worth checking out as another option.

For a chuckle, remind yourself that in the eyes of the RIAA, those of us who rip our own CDs to other devices are THIEVES!