Niel Young Claims Late Steve Jobs Worked On High-Def Audio Format

[Phillip Swanson]

Niel Young, yes that Niel Young, claimed today that Apple was working on a new super high-def music format.

In an interview with All Things D at the Dive Into Media conference today, Young claimed that he was working with the late Steve Jobs on a project that would bring studio-quality music to the digital download world. Young talked down MP3’s claiming they have “five percent of the data present in the original recording,” and Apple was working on high-resolution digital tracks that would bring back the 95% of data lost in MP3 compression.

Young did concede a number of hurdles faced the implementation of high-def audio including large file sizes, download times, and devices capable of holding enough songs or albums to be worthwhile (250GB classic iPod?). Because of these limitations Young said despite Jobs being vinyl fan, not much headway was made developing the new file-type.

"Steve Jobs was a pioneer of digital music, and his legacy is tremendous," Young told the crowd. "But when he went home, he listened to vinyl. And you've got to believe that if he'd lived long enough, he would have done what I'm trying to do."

Apple declined to comment on Young’s comments, but his claims of a high-fidelity audio format do corroborate with earlier reports of Apple and several of its competitors talking with records labels about introducing 24-bit recordings to iTunes and other download services.

High-fidelity downloads sound nice, but honestly, I’ll stick to ripping lossless tracks from my CD collection and converting my audio. Most of those who care enough about 24-bit audio already have the means to digitize it.

Source: CNET

[killcity]

You could at least spell his name correctly...

[Zokunei]

You could at least spell his name correctly...

+1

I never knew that about Jobs.

[severe]

That CD collection of yours is 16-bit, Phillip. Unless the digital source began at 24-bit it ain't 24-bit.

Good on Mr. Young for his efforts. And thanks for the report.

[hogcia]

Ah 320h mp3 sounds good enough for me. NEXT!

[dazed87]

That CD collection of yours is 16-bit, Phillip. Unless the digital source began at 24-bit it ain't 24-bit.

Good on Mr. Young for his efforts. And thanks for the report.

Yes, it's not much about bit depth but more about bit rate, most MP3s are between 128 kbps - 320 kbps, CDs are 1,411.2 kbps; even most lossless audio formats don't get that far, at between 400 kbps - 1,411kbps.

[theroyalwe]

I miss Joshua Tucker. Does anybody else?

[SRPrentice]

I wish Apple came out with this unique format so I could listen to this high quality music. *starts next FLAC song*

Honestly though, I've been ripping CD's to FLAC for a long time. The format for high quality sound exists. It's just not mainstream. The size of the songs is too big for say an iPod. On my PC, I have 2TB which is more than enough room.

I wish Apple came out with this unique format so I could listen to this high quality music. *starts next FLAC song*

Honestly though, I've been ripping CD's to FLAC for a long time. The format for high quality sound exists. It's just not mainstream. The size of the songs is too big for say an iPod. On my PC, I have 2TB which is more than enough room.

Also, I use iSub to play these FLAC files on my iPhone. I have an empty iPod app and my iSub app has all my songs cached (that it can fit).

[bigliquid530]

I miss Joshua Tucker. Does anybody else?

+1

[Hondamaker]

You could at least spell his name correctly...

No kidding! It doesn't even look right spelled that way.

[gthugballin]

I miss Joshua Tucker. Does anybody else?

+100


What happened to him?

[Packgrog]

The iPhone 4s can handle 24-bit 48kHz ALAC files with ease, and yes, the difference is audible (provided the recording is done from an analog or higher resolution source). I record my vinyl at 24/192 and resample it to 24/48 for use on my 4S. Sounds great! Support for higher sample rates wouldn't really be that useful, though. Bit-depth is more important than sample rate.

That said, it would be of greater importance to just get better quality mastering done for redbook (16/44) files. CDs sound like garbage because of the mastering, not because of the bit depth. For that matter, I've tried some DVD Audio versions of certain albums that sound horrible because of the mastering, and higher bit depth doesn't do jack in those cases. If I convert my vinyl recordings to redbook, they sound far, far better than the CDs purely because of mastering differences alone (provided I can clean up the vinyl noise). Pushing the record companies to release versions of their albums that aren't ruined by dynamic compression would be more helpful.

[Dranon]

You could at least spell his name correctly...

YEs how sad... if it was a typo he would have spelled it correctly in the text but the title and text continues the misspelling... Journalism has gone out the window...

[mr117]

I'm running lossless files on my i4 and using high-end earbuds (UltimateEars TripleFi) and the sound is demonstrably better than MP3s. I like hearing high-quality sound, and it seems easier on my ears (not as harsh as MP3s) as well, letting me listen longer without ear fatigue. If MP3s make you happy, then listen to that format. But if you really like music, try lossless- and get rid of those awful 15 cent Apple ear buds. The files are much bigger, so you can't jam as much music on your device, but life is full of tradeoffs.

[leopodie]

or they could've just let their ipod play flac.

[dz302]

For the love a God Fillip... listen to these people, I really think they're onto something. Once
again my friend, you have impaled us with your lack of ability to write. Mr Tucker come home