Apple’s recent move may seem of only passing interest, but it could have wider implications for the future of high-resolution music, says Andrew Everard

I recently offered some thoughts on the current music downloading scene, as part of my reasoning for the ongoing survival of the CD. I stick with my opinion about the need for faster broadband to make an all-download world (or indeed one in which music is streamed, rather than stored locally)  truly viable, but there are signs that the other stumbling block for downloads – the generally low quality of the files on offer – could be showing signs of crumbling.

And just for once, in a market usually driven by ‘fast food’ access to the latest pop release, it looks like the classical music industry could be leading the way, taking downloadable music from scratchy-sounding MP3s up to CD quality – and beyond.

Start to look around the classical labels, and there’s a surprising amount of music already available as CD-quality FLAC files – true, it’s just scratching the surface of the entire recorded catalogue, but there’s definitely progress being made. What’s more, files are available going beyond the 44.1kHz/16-bit CD standard laid down using the technology of the mid-1970s, and with which we’ve now been stuck for well over three decades.

You can now buy files at 24-bit resolution, in some cases even in surround, and at sampling rates right up to the 192kHz used, for example, for some of the Linn Records Studio Master recordings.

True, the majority of content out there remains in MP3, with a maximum bitrate of 320kbps – more than good enough for many a modest system – but the first signs of a move on to something better are beginning to show.

Chandos, for example, has a growing catalogue of music to choose from, sold through its online division The Classical Shop, which also offers titles from a huge number of labels including the likes of the LSO, the LPO, the RPO and Washington National Cathedral.

Not all of the titles are in what the audio community describes as ‘hi-res’ – ie at bit-depths and sampling rates beyond the CD standard –, but there’s a lossless option (choose that and you get the MP3 version free), and a dedicated 24-bit section. This includes Chandos titles, and releases from labels including the BBC Philharmonic, Chaconne, DaCapo, Marco Polo and Pentatone.

Pentatone also appears among the titles available on the Linn Records site, which has expanded from offering just its own recordings to adding a selected range from a small number of other labels. Ar the end of 2011 Linn Records offered a number of Studio Master ‘starter packs’ demonstrating the breadth of its high-resolution catalogue: The massive Ultimate Studio Master Collection, at £3850, included every Studio Master recording from Linn and its partner labels – over 300 titles.

Around the same time, Linn also announced that its recordings are now available in ALAC (or Apple Lossless) as well as FLAC. Hyperion also offers recordings in this format, which offers compatibility with Apple’s iTunes, and which has recently been made ‘open source’ – ie available to all – instead of Apple keeping it close to its chest, as it has until now.

Now Apple’s not known for giveaways – it didn’t where it is today by ‘doing freebies’ – but open-source Apple Lossless may herald the start of something big. At least that’s the view of Linn Products’ boss Gilad Tiefenbrun, who says that ‘I reckon there’s a pure, commercial motive. And that is...24-bit.’

Open-source ALAC will enable more equipment to stream music in this format – Naim, for example, recently added Apple Lossless streaming in its products –, but Tiefenbrun says there’s more to it: ‘Here’s the deal: the majors offer Apple the 24-bit catalogue. Apple wants the format to be ALAC for the sake of iTunes compatibility. The majors demand ALAC be open source, so that the good stuff can be enjoyed beyond the Apple World to the widest possible audience.

‘In other words, I believe this is an essential piece of the jigsaw that will see iTunes offering 24-bit music downloads in 2012.’

If that happens, and 24-bit music becomes more widely available, that can only be a good thing for audio and music industries alike. And for once, the classical music industry is leading the trend.