If all are convinced that 16-bit and 24-bit are different releases, then the same can be said for MP3 and M4A, especially since there is more of an audible difference between the lossy formats than there is between the lossless formats.
Also, regarding barcodes, I will still say that barcodes are not a key factor on digital releases. Mainly because the digital release rarely ever contains a barcode in its metadata, and is also not easily available. Using iTunes as an example, iTunes does not openly disclose any barcodes.
I believe there is also a bit of a typo or misstatement here. MFiT releases are derived from a 24 bit audio source, not 16 bit. Additionally, once the AAC/M4A file is created, it is not a 16 bit audio file, it is a compressed audio file at a 256 kbps bitrate.
For reference:
“A 16-bit, 44.1kHz song requires a bitrate of 1.35 megabit/second of data, and a single minute of stereo audio takes up about 10 megabytes of space.”