How do ITunes etc encode their Mp3's / AAC's

[Fluff]

Do you think they just rip cd's then put encryption on. Or do you think they encode straight from the master from the record company?

Surely a reasonably high bitrate file encoded directly from the masters wave file (24 bit / 96khz) would be free from jitter and other things that apparently plague the cd format.

[Wombat]

They use the masters, often. There's articles out there.

[Jessterw]

The have a kit of sorts that allows the record companies to create iTMS friendly albums and records; the equivalent of a master. The DRM is added by the iTunes client.

[Nowhere]

Off the shelf CD is better than any mp3/aac anyway...

[Fluff]

While that is true .Surely If a mp3 / aac is encoded from a 24bit source there will be more dynamic range than from a 16 bit source and there would be less compression on the volume of drums etc.

[Nowhere]

Uhmm...no, because during encoding it all goes back to 16bit (furthermore: compressed)

[UtwigMU]

DRM is added uppon a download. You can google for a client that "forgets" to add DRM if you like.