Now B&O has no excuse for not supporting it on the BeoSound 5!!!!

http://www.macrumors.com/2011/10/27/apples-lossless-audio-codec-alac-now-open-source/

Apple announced on Mac OS Forge today that they have open sourced their Lossless Audio Codec (ALAC). ALAC was introduced in 2004 as OS X’s core audio codec to compress audio files 40-60 percent without losing any quality. The codec is currently supported by Macs and the latest iOS devices.

ALAC was reversed engineered in 2005, but more and more applications could begin to adapt the codec now that it’s open sourced. Currently Plex, VLC, Boxee, and XBMC feature the codec, and there are sure more to come. ALAC has been open sourced under the Apache license.

http://9to5mac.com/2011/10/27/apple-open-sources-their-lossless-audio-codec-alac/#more-103148

if they do it

I think i buy one!!!!!!

Finally! This will now make it easy to manage all of the music in just one music library so we don't have to mess with WMA Lossless or FLAC. It only makes sense for B&O to add Apple Lossless ripping to it's forthcoming ripping drive as well. B&O needs to make adopting Apple Lossless a high priority.

I'm also hoping that the iTunes Match service that is coming soon will be an opportunity to easily replace all of my low quality CD rips with iTunes Plus quality files. After that, I can concentrate on re-ripping just my favorite CDs to Apple Lossless.

@beojeff : iUnes Plus is not "quality". Ok, it's more simple to pay for iTunes Match service to improve your crappy (illegal?) MP3 at one time, but it is really better to rip everything in ALAC.

We're talking listening through a B&O sound system here, not an iPhone : quality really matters!

mbee:

@beojeff : iUnes Plus is not "quality". Ok, it's more simple to pay for iTunes Match service to improve your crappy (illegal?) MP3 at one time, but it is really better to rip everything in ALAC.

We're talking listening through a B&O sound system here, not an iPhone : quality really matters!

Many years ago, I ripped my entire CD collection in 128 bit rate. After getting the BeoSound 5, the difference between 128 and lossless is certainly noticeable. However, I can't detect the difference between lossless and 256kbps. Many blind tests have shown this is the case with most people. As we become adults, few people have perfect hearing. Such is the case with me since sufference damage to my eardrums in college. I'm not saying that lossless isn't preferable. I'm just saying that the time and effort of re-ripping my entire music collection for the BeoSound 5 just isn't desirable when I can have it done for me at $24.99. I would only want to re-rip my favorites into lossless.