New lossless download site - FLAC & AIFF

Hykker wrote: While I continue to be somewhat leery of storing anything irreplacable on CD-R, I've had minimal problems with them, and really most of those can be traced back to a funky CD writer in a computer I had in the early 00's. I have also not had very good luck with CDs made on a component CD writer...CDs made on this will play on some players, and not on others.

Yep, I'm with you, Hykker. I'm still not sold on storing valuable recordings solely on CD-R due to the numerous horror stories I've heard from people claiming to have had their CD-Rs go bad over time. For this reason, I still try to seek all my desired music on an official factory-pressed commercial silver CD pressing since they're designed to last closer to a lifetime with proper care. For recordings not available on a commercial silver CD pressing, I do my best to store them on a backup hard drive and on CD-R. Granted, Aaron has recommended some excellent CD-R brands to me and I must say I haven't had problems with any of these discs in the two or so years I've had them.

Edited by Todd Ireland

Doesn't just about every media type have issues like that? I think even most magnetic tapes are only estimated to last between 5 and 30 years, depending on how often it is played.

As a side note, the first CD-Rs I ever burned (back in 1996) were done on TDK discs (at $10 each), and they still play fine today. I also have some crappy Maxell discs from that same era that will play; however, the plastic has slightly "bowed" over time, and so the outer tracks on the disc will not read. And I have some really crappy Memorex discs that have blue-colored dye on the bottom that will not play at all. I think a lot of it comes down to how well those discs are manufactured, although I'm no expert. I have read that CDs are supposed to last up to 100 years; however, I don't know if that claim is only true for factory pressed discs or not.

Sad news for lossless download fans like myself. MusicGiants has lost Warner Music Group. Every Warner, Atlantic, Elektra, Bad Boy, and any other Warner-owned music is just gone from their site. (Thanks God I bought all those Madonna remixes while I had the chance, 'cause they gone now.) I have not yet received a response to my inquiry as to WHY.

But I can't help but wonder if perhaps Warner struck an exclusive deal with another download service to provide lossless files. Especially since several recent albums (the new Paul McCartney/Firemen, the upcoming remastered version of the Beastie Boys' "Paul's Boutique," the last Radiohead album) were offered in lossless formats on the band's websites, including Apple Lossless.

Could Apple finally be readying its own lossless store?

MusicGiants has lost Universal now, after losing Warner just a few weeks ago. All Universal-owned titles are gone from their website. I wonder what the hell is going on. If they don't have Universal or Warner anymore, they might as well just hang it up. I will surprised if they're still in business in a year.

Brian W. wrote: Was finally able to confirm: On May 18th, MusicGiants (aka HDGiants) filed for bankruptcy. I've suspected that for a while, since I can't add any money to my account, and there are many dead links. No wonder customer service won't answer my calls and emails -- there's no one working there but the CEO! http://www.twice.com/article/CA6661607.html Oh, well, it was a poorly run business anyway. I told them several times, "You guys have GOT to do more advertising. I go on audiophile bulletin boards all the time, and no one has ever heard of you."

That's a damn shame. While the MGN site was never quite ready for prime time in terms of its usability, I found it pretty valuable and purchased quite a few tracks over the past couple of years. They even had some stuff that was out of print.

The concept was a good one; unfortunately it doesn't appear they had the $$ to get it to where it needed to be. The loss of Warner and Universal content was likely a death blow.

Actually, if Apple would just start offering lossless downloads, then I would be fine with using iTunes. I hate lossy downloads.