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e-Onkyo Music to offer high-definition downloads starting May 30th in Japan

e-Onkyo Music to offer high-definition downloads starting May 30th in Japan

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High-end audio manufacturer Onkyo has announced a new music store that will sell high quality surround-encoded tracks in Japan, though they come at a price.

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High-end audio manufacturer Onkyo is launching a high-quality music store for Japanese customers, offering up Dolby TrueHD 5.1-surround tracks as well as surround sound WAV and FLAC options. Named "e-onkyo music," the store will offer around 1,000 songs when it launches on May 30th, most of which are classical recordings, with more to follow soon.

All of the formats are DRM-free, though to play the TrueHD tracks you'll need one of Onkyo's newly released TX-NR818 or TX-NR717 AV receivers. You'll also need a fairly hefty broadband connection — each 96kHz TrueHD track will be around 200MB to download, with the 192kHz TrueHD option coming in at around 800MB per track. They don't come cheap, either: a single track will be 400 yen (around $5) with albums costing 3,000 yen (almost $40).

A number of prominent figures have expressed dissatisfaction over the current music store offerings recently, including Neil Young and Jimmy Iovine, so it's unsurprising that a brand catering to audiophiles would be making its own push into the market. AV Watch says that e-onkyo music will also be launching worldwide later this year.