Agreed, though I'm entrenched in the Apple ecosystem, so I'd prefer ALAC from iTunes. Since I prefer to rip my CD's in ALAC, I would have no need to buy the act

Agreed, though I'm entrenched in the Apple ecosystem, so I'd prefer ALAC from iTunes. Since I prefer to rip my CD's in ALAC, I would have no need to buy the actual CD. Of course, I suspect that's why the labels have been holding true hi-bitrate files back from the likes of Apple & Amazon.