Making Your Computer an Audiophile Quality Music Player - addendum

A side note before Part 3 -
In Part 1 we learned how to rip CD's into iTunes and other media players without losing sound quality, and that CD quality and better music files are available on websites such as www.hdtracks.com. You may realize that this means you will eventually have a jumble of music in data compressed mp3 and AAC formats mixed in with your better quality lossless files. That's fine if you occasionally want to mix the two in playlists or shuffle mode for parties, casual listening etc. But some people prefer to keep their iPod-friendly data-compressed music separate from their high-quality files. It is a simple matter to create a whole new iTunes library just for your CD-quality and better files, or for any other reason. On a Mac, hold down 'Option' as you launch iTunes, or on a PC hold down 'Shift'. A dialogue box will open stating that iTunes needs a library, and asks you to either select a library or create a new one. Create a new library in your music folder named 'iTunes Hi-Res Music' for instance.
Now music you rip into this library will not appear in your other library and vice-versa. If you don't hold down 'Option' when you launch iTunes, it will open the last library that it was using. If you want to use the other library, quit and relaunch with the 'Option' modifier.
Of course you can create alternate libraries for any reason - keeping pop, jazz and classical libraries totally independent for example. You can always import music from any library you're not using into your current library by choosing "Add to Library' under the File menu.

Your Home Music Library and iCloud - Important Info

3/6/12 - Big news on this front. Apple is talking about its new 'Adaptive Streaming' technology, whereby music you purchase in the iTunes Store and  'store' in iCloud would be downloaded to mobile devices in the standard iTunes+ AAC format, but in a lossless format to your computer or any device with adequate storage and fast enough internet connection. They have also begun urging their music partners to upload their tracks in 96k/24 bit HD, so this is one more positive sign that we're moving ever closer to HD audio downloads and streaming for the masses. It still remains to be seen whether you can upload music to the iCloud that you're ripped yourself in lossless ALAC, WAV or AIF, but signs still point to no on that. For more details click here.

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Apple is now offering iCloud, whereby your photos, music, movies, calendars, contacts etc. can be stored in the iCloud and accessed or updated from any of your computers and mobile i-devices. You will see that Apple offers to not only store the music you have purchased from the iTunes Store (they're not actually storing it - it will be streaming from the iTunes Store), but for $25.00 a year will also match music you have ripped from CD's yourself or acquired elsewhere and store (stream) it from the iTunes Store as well. And they brag that it will be in 256kbps AAC, regardless if your files are at a lower rate. The only thing you have to upload is music that is not available in the iTunes Store. But what's 'cloudy' is the fact that if you ripped your CD's correctly as lossless files (see Part 1 of my computer music posts), or if you have purchased hi-resolution music from hdtracks.com etc., they will also be 256kbps AAC's on the iCloud, not the better quality files you ripped. You will have another option to upload your own files, which can be your lossless audio files. You get 5GB of space for free, but the music or TV shows you have purchased from the iTunes store does not count against your space (again since it's not really being stored there), only music, movies, pictures and documents you actually upload counts against your space. So that means 15 hours of music if you've ripped CD's to Apple Lossless files. That's not much, but you could just keep a rotation of favorite music there for access on your remote i-devices or laptop. And you can buy more space - $20/year for 10GB for instance.
If you don't care about better sound quality on your remote devices, then the matched 256kbps AAC files will be fine. And your high quality files will still be on your main computer for serious listening.
Also, for all you pro-audio guys, don't be too hasty. For iCloud you have to upgrade your computer to OSX Lion, and you need to be really sure that your pro audio applications will work on that operating system.