[planetf1]

Can anyone recommend a good site with decent value tRACKS IN AAC VBR 192-224 kbps format?

I *so* miss alltunes. Regardless of the price it was just really easy to find things and so much flexibility in format/bitrate...

[Hirs Ute]

Originally Posted by planetf1

Can anyone recommend a good site with decent value tRACKS IN AAC VBR 192-224 kbps format?

I *so* miss alltunes. Regardless of the price it was just really easy to find things and so much flexibility in format/bitrate...

Hi PlanetF1, so who'se going to win on Sunday - Ferrari look strong - unfortunately
Anyway, back to the point in hand, why do want to download AAC format? If it to pull music into an iPod you can download MP3 which is what all the sites offer and then either:
a) Just pull MP3 into your iPod
b) Tell your iPod to convert to AAC when importing.
c) or finally, import mp3 - highlight track and select "Convert to AAC" that will create duplicate track. After they are created just delete the MP3 tracks.
Hope that helps
If you're happy with that you can visit our sister site; RuTunes.com for music site recommendations

[planetf1]

I realise I can either play mp3 direct on the ipod, or potentially convert, but most of my existing collection is in unprotected aac, and the quality IMO is better than mp3 at the same rate.

I had initially thought I can only convert to 128 aac, but it appears the conversion respects the import settings, although 224 isn't valid for vbr.

Some experimentation/reading needed to determine what the sensible rate for -- say -- a 320 kbps mp3 source would be.

The days of 128 aac are long gone - I now download at a min of 160, usually 224, and occasionally 256.

Regardless of price, this is one of the things alltunes got spot on - the choice of formats and bitrates. I'd gladly pay twice the price for that capability

[Nightfly]

Originally Posted by planetf1

I realise I can either play mp3 direct on the ipod, or potentially convert, but most of my existing collection is in unprotected aac, and the quality IMO is better than mp3 at the same rate.

I had initially thought I can only convert to 128 aac, but it appears the conversion respects the import settings, although 224 isn't valid for vbr.

Some experimentation/reading needed to determine what the sensible rate for -- say -- a 320 kbps mp3 source would be.

The days of 128 aac are long gone - I now download at a min of 160, usually 224, and occasionally 256.

Regardless of price, this is one of the things alltunes got spot on - the choice of formats and bitrates. I'd gladly pay twice the price for that capability

Hirs gave you excellent advice considering the circumstances.
Alltunes and Mp3sparks are the only sites that fit your requirements.

We specialize hear in the Mp3 format- all our sites listed on Rutunes
are MP3 sites.

So you can wait until Alltunes comes back someday or find a Forum like this
that specializes in AAC files.

Good luck in your quest for aac files.

[Mellifluous]

Originally Posted by planetf1

I realise I can either play mp3 direct on the ipod, or potentially convert, but most of my existing collection is in unprotected aac, and the quality IMO is better than mp3 at the same rate.

I had initially thought I can only convert to 128 aac, but it appears the conversion respects the import settings, although 224 isn't valid for vbr.

Some experimentation/reading needed to determine what the sensible rate for -- say -- a 320 kbps mp3 source would be.

The days of 128 aac are long gone - I now download at a min of 160, usually 224, and occasionally 256.

Regardless of price, this is one of the things alltunes got spot on - the choice of formats and bitrates. I'd gladly pay twice the price for that capability

7digital sell a lot of their music as mp3 and AAC (if you buy an album you can download both file types), if it offers anything you're looking for and you don't mind the bigger price, check it out.

[solaris]

Originally Posted by Mellifluous

7digital sell a lot of their music as mp3 and AAC (if you buy an album you can download both file types), if it offers anything you're looking for and you don't mind the bigger price, check it out.

Yep, but (still) pretty useless if you don't live in either Germany, Ireland, France or Spain - right?

[Mellifluous]

Ya, but the topic question's confusing, can't tell if he's asking for UK stores or stores with UK pop

[Earl Purple]

7-Digital is a UK store and works from the UK where the OP poster is. 7-Digital has a limited selection though.

There is also tunetribe.com, who sell 320 kbps tracks and are usually cheaper than 7-Digital but you have to buy at least £4 worth in one transaction or you pay a 30p[ surcharge. They are planning to bring in a voucher scheme though to aid small transactions (i.e. you buy vouchers at £4 or more then use them to pay off small transactions with no surcharge). They don't do AAC but they do mp3 at 320 Kbps.

You may also try play.com. They have mp3 but it's 320 Kbps so the conversion will be good.

And then finally of course there is iTunes itself, as long as you stick to only iTunes Plus tracks. You know which ones these are because they are listed as iTunes Plus and you see a + sign close to the price in the search window.

[solaris]

Originally Posted by Earl Purple

7-Digital is a UK store and works from the UK where the OP poster is. 7-Digital has a limited selection though.

There is also tunetribe.com, who sell 320 kbps tracks and are usually cheaper than 7-Digital but you have to buy at least £4 worth in one transaction or you pay a 30p[ surcharge. They are planning to bring in a voucher scheme though to aid small transactions (i.e. you buy vouchers at £4 or more then use them to pay off small transactions with no surcharge). They don't do AAC but they do mp3 at 320 Kbps.

You may also try play.com. They have mp3 but it's 320 Kbps so the conversion will be good.

And then finally of course there is iTunes itself, as long as you stick to only iTunes Plus tracks. You know which ones these are because they are listed as iTunes Plus and you see a + sign close to the price in the search window.

www.7-Digital.com, www.TuneTribe.com, www.Play.com (the digital download part of it) and www.iTunes.com are all regional restricted disasters and therefore can kiss my a..


Regional selling restrictions is the one reason I really hope the major companies will lie down in a corner somewhere, roll over and DIE within the not too distant future: So those regional selling barriers will disappear and never return


It is just so humongously consumer unfriendly to set up an Internet shop in The USA or The UK and then tell 95% of the Earth's population that they are not allowed to shop there because they are not British, American or whatever It is borderline racial discrimination


This is now an even larger problem than DRM (which I really HATE too) - but DRM has now been hit by the asteroid like Earth did 65 million years ago and will soon become extinct

[Earl Purple]

I'm not sure how regional restricted 7-Digital and tunetribe are. Both of them accept paypal payments. The prices are the high UK prices but they are set by the suppliers.

In any case the OP was asking about availability in Britain.

I do think that at least there should be no restrictions between EU countries. Not even sure that legally they can place restrictions. Someone should consult EU law. And Lithuania are an EU member. Any plans to set up sites in Lithuania? What would their pricing be like?