Big music services mull 'lossless' tracks

Audiophiles love lossless audio -- a method of compressing digital tracks that preserves the fidelity of music, albeit in a larger file. So when will the major music services start offering it? That was one of the questions Thursday at the Grammy MusicTech Summit in Seattle, during a panel that included representatives of Amazon.com's MP3 store, Microsoft Zune, and RealNetworks' Rhapsody.

The short answer: Not anytime soon. But each digital-music bigwig gave a slightly different take on the issue. And one offered lossless lovers a glimmer of hope.

"We don't have any plans, but I'll just say, personally, it's something I'm totally pushing for," Christina Calio, Zune director of content and programming. "I think, as time moves on, it's going to become more and more important."

Tim Quirk, Rhapsody's vice president of music programming, said he respectfully disagreed. "I think the people who care care vigorously, and there are very, very few of them. And with the generation growing up, just being accustomed to low bit-rate MP3s, there will be fewer and fewer of them in the future. I'm not saying it's a good or a bad thing."

Added Bill Carr, Amazon's vice president of digital media: "We don't have plans to offer it. I think one of the biggest barriers, frankly, is that most MP3 players don't support. As long as that's true, that's going to be an impediment to services carrying it."

Of course, the biggest player in the download market remains Apple's iTunes music store. There has long been speculation that Apple might someday offer lossless tracks, and if Steve Jobs & Co. ultimately go that direction, others may be forced to follow suit.