First time post. Hope all are well.
I am a new user to the Windows Media Store. I was wondering, as I can't
figure it out, if you can chose a bit rate when you purchase a song through
the Windows Music store? I would like to be able to purchase music in the
'lossless' format so I can burn backup CDs as necessary.

Thanks a bunch.

rchala@hotmail.com wrote:
> First time post. Hope all are well.
> I am a new user to the Windows Media Store. I was wondering, as I can't
> figure it out, if you can chose a bit rate when you purchase a song through
> the Windows Music store? I would like to be able to purchase music in the
> 'lossless' format so I can burn backup CDs as necessary.
>
> Thanks a bunch.

I don't think this is available. To paraphrase Tommy Lee Jones in Men in
Black, you'll be buying the White Album for a very long time.

They probably wouldn't like you being able to burn "perfect" audio CDs
and thus getting around digital licenses by ripping them back to
unprotected files.

Unfortunate... I guess I won't be using the service then. What about bit
rates besides the 'lossless'? What is the default bit rate that you receive
on purchase of one of their songs?
Anyone know?

Thanks again,
Rich

"Mike Williams" wrote:

> rchala@hotmail.com wrote:
> > First time post. Hope all are well.
> > I am a new user to the Windows Media Store. I was wondering, as I can't
> > figure it out, if you can chose a bit rate when you purchase a song through
> > the Windows Music store? I would like to be able to purchase music in the
> > 'lossless' format so I can burn backup CDs as necessary.
> >
> > Thanks a bunch.
>
> I don't think this is available. To paraphrase Tommy Lee Jones in Men in
> Black, you'll be buying the White Album for a very long time.
>
> They probably wouldn't like you being able to burn "perfect" audio CDs
> and thus getting around digital licenses by ripping them back to
> unprotected files.
>

Oh, and thanks very much Mike for the reply.

"Mike Williams" wrote:

> rchala@hotmail.com wrote:
> > First time post. Hope all are well.
> > I am a new user to the Windows Media Store. I was wondering, as I can't
> > figure it out, if you can chose a bit rate when you purchase a song through
> > the Windows Music store? I would like to be able to purchase music in the
> > 'lossless' format so I can burn backup CDs as necessary.
> >
> > Thanks a bunch.
>
> I don't think this is available. To paraphrase Tommy Lee Jones in Men in
> Black, you'll be buying the White Album for a very long time.
>
> They probably wouldn't like you being able to burn "perfect" audio CDs
> and thus getting around digital licenses by ripping them back to
> unprotected files.
>

rc wrote:
> Unfortunate... I guess I won't be using the service then. What about bit
> rates besides the 'lossless'? What is the default bit rate that you receive
> on purchase of one of their songs?

I've heard they're in the 128-160kps range. I'd tried to log on to a few
but they wouldn't accept someone with an Australian IP address (at the
time) and required a US credit card with US billing address.

On Wed, 14 Dec 2005 18:13:02 -0800, "rc"
<rc@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:

>Unfortunate... I guess I won't be using the service then. What about bit
>rates besides the 'lossless'? What is the default bit rate that you receive
>on purchase of one of their songs?

I don't know (I don't use these services, they're a ripoff IMO) but I
believe the bitrate is different on a provider by provider basis, it's
what they believe the minimum is they can get away with, that you'll
still pay for - the lower the bitrate, the lower their bandwidth
hosting costs.

Cheers - Neil

Good point. I don't think I will be purchasing then either... Too bad, the
DL model doesn't seem too bad if they were to allow for 'lossless'

Thanks guys for the replies...

"Neil Smith [MVP Digital Media]" wrote:

> On Wed, 14 Dec 2005 18:13:02 -0800, "rc"
> <rc@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:
>
> >Unfortunate... I guess I won't be using the service then. What about bit
> >rates besides the 'lossless'? What is the default bit rate that you receive
> >on purchase of one of their songs?
>
> I don't know (I don't use these services, they're a ripoff IMO) but I
> believe the bitrate is different on a provider by provider basis, it's
> what they believe the minimum is they can get away with, that you'll
> still pay for - the lower the bitrate, the lower their bandwidth
> hosting costs.
>
> Cheers - Neil
>
>