It’s official. The new iMac line, scheduled for availability in September, will indeed feature 64-bit G5 processors. This according to an Apple spokesman during a recent third quarter financial results conference call with analysts. Again, Apple had hoped to have the new iMacs shipping by now. The delay is due to IBM not being able to crank out the 90-nanometer-process G5 chips in sufficient volume. Apple officials stated that this shortfall in availability would be overcome in this quarter. Although Apple is being traditionally tight-lipped about any new iMac details, you can bet that these new iMacs will have a high visual “wow factor”, and most likely a very competitive price point. More details as they trickle out.

You’ve heard me in this space trumpeting the virtues of Apple’s iTunes Music Store (iTMS). This week the iTMS sold its 100 millionth song. The milestone song was “Somersault (Dangermouse remix)” by Zero 7, and was downloaded by Kevin Britten of Hays, Kansas, at 12:25 AM local time. For purchasing the song, Kevin received a 17” PowerBook, a 40GB iPod, a gift certificate for 10,000 songs from the iTMS, and a late-night phone call from Apple CEO Steve Jobs himself.

Thinking of putting your music collection on your computer, or starting to purchase music from an online music store like the iTMS? Remember that all online music store files, regardless of format, are compressed to make the downloading time shorter. There’s a trade-off between fidelity and file size. Higher fidelity means bigger file size.

Songs on the iTMS are encoded in 128 kbps (kilobytes per second) AAC (MPEG-4) format. The higher the kbps, the better the fidelity (the better the sound) of the song. At the 128 kbps setting, a three-minute song results in a 3.5MB digital file. I can tell you from experience that this format sounds great on my iPod and high-end Harman-Kardon computer speakers, as well as on CDs that I make from my iTMS songs to listen to on my car stereo.

For most people, the fidelity of music purchased online is excellent. Just remember that you’re not getting the same fidelity as the same song purchased on a CD. Your trade-off is absolute pristine quality versus convenience. If you’re a real audiophile with high-end equipment, you may want to stick with CDs.

© 2004 Peter F. Zimowski