buying music via iTunes?

[aclivity]

I'm considering buying an album via iTunes ... I normally would prefer to buy the CD (I'm old fashoned like that) and rip it to whichever format I choose, however this CD in particular is as rare as hens teeth - even on eBay it's going for £20 to £40.

I've searched on other download sites (Amazon and Play.com) that I have used before, but it's not on there ... it IS, however, on iTunes for £5.99

• If I purchase it from my iPod touch, will it download in a decent (256Kbps) bitrate, or do I get a choice?
• I'd prefer to have it in MP3 format, rather than anything iTunes specific (I use media streamers in the house, they support MP3 but not manufacturer specific formats.
• if it doesn't complete the download on my iPod (if there isn't enough free space for it) will I be able to re-download it on the PC iTunes?

Oh, in case anyone is interested, it's Earthquake Weather by Joe Strummer.

Andy

[The_Jackal]

I thought iTunes were dropping DRM from all their music?

Why not just buy it through your iTunes at home and then just sync it with your iPhone when you know you have enough space.

[carmadgaz]

Buy it through iTunes at home, burn it as an audio CD, use as a normal CD. It what I did with Ovi player so I could listen to the downloaded stuff in the car (no Aux input)

[PJR]

You now get from iTunes a 256k non DRM'd AAC file. AAC being better quality than MP3 for the same given bit rate (try a 128k mp3 vs a 128k AAC and you'll hear what I mean right away)
AAC isn't (as some might have you believe) a proprietary Apple format either. A number of other manufacturers products will also play these files. But no, it isn't as widely supported as MP3 unfortunately.
You can burn your AAC files to an audio CD, then reimport as MP3, but in my opinion that is a chore, plus you are subjecting the music to lossy compression twice. Depending how fussy you are about fidelity, that may or not matter to you. But personally, I wouldn't.

[spitfire-ian]

aclivity said:

If I purchase it from my iPod touch, will it download in a decent (256Kbps) bitrate, or do I get a choice?

Yes, iTunes downloads are 256Kbps

aclivity said:

I'd prefer to have it in MP3 format, rather than anything iTunes specific (I use media streamers in the house, they support MP3 but not manufacturer specific formats.

You can use iTunes to change it to mp3 format.

aclivity said:

if it doesn't complete the download on my iPod (if there isn't enough free space for it) will I be able to re-download it on the PC iTunes?

Yes

[aclivity]

Thanks for all the advice, I'll give it a go tonight.