'HD Download debacle' investigation published on HFN&RR June 2011

I agree.

I disagree.

They are just another form of retail outlet no different from Rhino.com, Amazon, Linn or iTunes. The files they are offering are different the function they perform is not.

 

If they were the sole source of said music, the sole distributor of product, then yes. It would be like a foreign company licensing an EMI or WMG release for their country exclusively. If the quality was shoddy, the buck would stop with them. Perhaps a record store is not the best analogy...

 

The record store is an exact analogy. They are simply placing product at your disposal for purchase just like and other retail outlet. One store may specialize in only vinyl another in CDs and another in downloads but it is still a retail outlet. They are not a manufacturer or distributor.

 

Amazon, iTunes etc are generalist music stores, selling all kinds of recordings, sounding good or bad. They have no audiophile competence, nor do they claim any.

HDtracks is an audiophile download store, selling lossless and higher resolution files. Customers expect that the masterings are of high quality, especially from the hi-rez files which are exclusively offered by HDtracks.

If you think HDtracks is just another download store, just read their mission statement:

https://www.hdtracks.com/index.php?file=staticpage&pagename=mission

 

The point is they are a retailer just like there are Mercedes retailers and there are Honda retailers. The function is the same.

 

HDtracks not just selling the labels' products, but licensing music so it can offer a special product not available elsewhere (hi-rez downloads).

It's comparable to a Mercedes dealer who orders a special version of a Mercedes with a more powerful engine or a higher quality sound system, according to his specs. If his special edition car then turns out slower than the regular model or the sound system sucks, the dealer has more responsibility than if he just sold the regular Mercedes range.

 

If you buy vegetables from a Bio store, but find out the vegetables are actually grown on a greenhouse with all sorts of pesticides and chemicals, do you care if it is the store or supplier's fault?!
Wouldn't you just stop buying from that store?

 

We will agree to disagree. That grocer and that dealer are not responsible for the products that others produced. They may in good business ethics have an obligation to see a wrong righted but they did not create the wrong.

 

Look, I agree that we cannot verify the authenticity of a higher rez product, yes? let alone argue it against a source (i.e. limited tape / original recording) in which conversions are pointless...

but here is my two cents -

1. having an original (record, 8 track, cassette, cd, etc), in perfect state is best right?
2. but if you don't have the above, then getting the best quality that they offer today, even if the transfer was pointless, is / should be acceptable, right?
3. better a 192/24 flac conversion of a poorly recorded original etc, than an mp3 ANYDAY, right?

 

1. Yes.
2. No.
3. No.

I try to go for the orginal release including the media it was released on, unless an "ocean of forum members" agree on certain remasters (aka word of mouth).

Beyond that, there are very little tools consumers can use to validate or authenicate provenance is a physical-less, download only, product. We rely on the good word from other forum members.