Source: S3studio / Getty
First launched in 2012, Apple’s “Mastered For iTunes” initiative allowed engineers to preserve the highest quality possible when encoding tracks for digital distribution on Apple Music. Wednesday (August 7) Apple announced the quiet rebranding of Mastered For iTunes to Apple Digital Masters.
Billboard reports that Apple is taking all its “Mastered For iTunes” collection and bringing it under the Apple Digital Masters initiative. The goal of the program was to give listeners studio-quality sound files that are close to the original master recordings, aka “lossless audio.” The tracks were then placed in a “Mastered for iTunes” section in the now dying iTunes platform, so the rebranding is right on time.
While Apple is just now officially announcing the change, users partaking in the iOS 13, aka Catalina beta noticed the name change about a month ago. They even shared a photo of it on Reddit for good measure.
Apple is not the only service that offers high-quality music. Tidal when it launched in back 2015 offered its subscribers a “HiFi” subscription tier for $19.99 month that allowed users to enjoy lossless music. It was later upgraded to even higher-quality files utilizing Bob Stuart‘s Master Quality Authenticated (MQA) technology. Spotify also experimented with a hi-fi tier subscription service back in 2017.
No word if Apple plans on making a separate subscription plan were subscribers can enjoy all of its Apple Digital Masters collection. Don’t be surprised if, in fact, the company does go that route.
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Photo: S3studio / Getty
Apple Music Quietly Rebrands Its “Best-Sounding” Music To ‘Apple Digital Masters’ was originally published on hiphopwired.com
