Could Better Sound Quality Save The Music Industry? (AAPL)

Since the advent of digital music in the early millennium, record labels, as well as online music services, have continually struggled to decide the quality of audio that should be offered to its users. Most, including Apple's AAPL iTunes software, carry 16-bit audio files that are generally offered at varying prices based on the song's release date and/or popularity and have rarely, if ever, remarked publicly about user demand for anything different. This may soon be changing, however, as a new movement backed by Interscope CEO Jimmy Iovine looks to give listeners a choice – for a price.

Iovine, who also co-owns Beats Audio, a high-end headphone company that also provides audio solutions for HP computers, has been lobbying for months to improve audio quality in hopes of kick-starting the slumping download market. This makes sense, as a move to higher quality audio would offer the opportunity for upsell and/or tier pricing. But it has led many to question the necessity of these files and whether or not the public would actually embrace them.

Historically, offering consumers a choice in their audio quality has returned mixed results. Indie download company Bleep offered Autechre's Oversteps album as 16-bit and 24-bit WAVs last year, with initial sales suggesting 70% chose to pay more for the higher quality. However, when the company tried this model again, this time for Bian Eno's Small Craft On A Milk Sea, the returns showed a diminished interest in higher quality audio that has continued to decline with each offering.

Aside from concerns that consumers will be turned away by higher prices, storage is also an issue. Higher quality recordings are significantly larger in size and thus may turn away those looking to conserve space on their portable devices. This, of course, could be solved using cloud storage, but digital music services, as well as portable music technology, has yet to embrace this concept enough for it to prove beneficial.

It is still unclear whether or not online services will adopt higher quality downloads, but most analysts agree that the bulk of the decision rests with iTunes. As Chaz Jenkins, head of the London Symphony Orchestra's record label, LSO Live, said in a recent statement, "It only takes one major player – and that major player being iTunes – to move here and because of their might in the market, you are going to have a de facto format there and then."

At press time, Apple had yet to comment on this matter.