If the music industry is hurting so badly from the huge decline in CD sales, why don’t the 4 majors get together and start a service where people can purchase full wav or even 24-bit downloads? They could advertise it as being far better sound quality than the other guys (Napster, iTunes, Rhapsody, etc) and basically charge the same prices.
Why not? They already control the content. Why not compete in the delivery business? As long as they don’t “F” it up like Sony did when they bought Columbia Pictures 20 years ago, they might return to former profitability.
I suppose they’ve considered this.
Come to think of it… why don’t some of US do this?
Let’s see. If iTunes and Rhapsody both offer 10 million tunes… and each tune is an average of 3.5 minutes long… and a full 16-bit wav takes 20MB per minute…that’s 70MB times 10 million… which equals 700 million megabytes, which is unless I’m WAY off is 700 terrabytes. I one TB drive is about $100, so that comes to $70,000 plus a few thousand for servers and stuff.
Who’s in? 
The thing is, people nowadays (generally) don’t care much about audio quality - they want something cheap and they want it NOW (the audio equivalent of McDonalds). And let’s face it, who spends money on hifi systems now?
Most consumers don’t have the means to playback 24 bit audio, or the quality of kit needed to hear the difference.
This is why some labels are now (starting Feb) going to be releasing music to retail at the same time as it releases to radio, so that the consumer is able to buy it as soon as they hear it.
That’s going to be way more popular than full WAV or 24 bit downloads.
Of course you’re right about most people anymore aren’t concerned with sound quality… but there is a bit of a reactionary trend building. For example, I went to Best Buy the other day and lo and behold, they had a new, substantial VINYL section. I have no doubt this reflects a belief among a growing segment that vinyl sounds “better” than CD or mp3.
So my proposal is definitely a niche business. But with some savvy marketing, emphasizing the better quality, I think it’s one that has potential… especially if the price is competitive and memory capacities of portable devices as well as computer storage grow exponentially in the near future