From mikail gubarev Sent Tue, Mar 2nd 1999, 21:40
From mikail gubarev Sent Tue, Mar 2nd 1999, 21:40
>I wouldn't pay for an MP3 (I haven't bought cassettes in a decade either.) >The sound quality is not comparable to CD (which is barely good enough.) it is comparable, you can play mp3's through a PA system in a club and have bass and treble pushed higher than usual and there's no difference. btw, what deficiencies in the sound quality of the CDs are you talking about? 16bit 44.1k is fine. ever heard of 12-bit samplers? if you refer to harmonics (or formants), most people dont even pay attention to anything higher than F3/F4. >MP3s are great for self distribution, but other than that let's not get >carried away. These lossy compression technologies as applied to audio are >relatively new. It may be physically impossible to duplicate CD quality >sound at a 10:1 compression ratio let alone the >100:1 mentioned in another >message in this thread. Your ears are sensitive instruments that can't be >fooled so easily. well there's a 4x lossless wav compression available right now (MKW). i can dig up a url if there's interest. what makes you think that there's no way to make it 10x? human ear is first of all an instrument of perception that is achieved via interpretation of sound. there's no reason why CD-quality sound should be accepted as something sacred. people still buy tapes. in fact, in Russia most of the record distribution is via tapes since the price of CD's is too high and most of vinyl-pressing factories went broke. imho, most of the fuss about the mp3's is the simple fact that the largest record buying market segment (people of 14-25 years of age) is also technology sensitive. they will adapt and start buying less CD's. i'm sure that the sales revenues already went down quite a bit, otherwise you wouldnt see all that RIAA lobbying. someone on KCRW said that mp3's will never be widespread because "people go to record stores to socialize"... well, if i can get the track i want in 10-15 minutes on my cable/ADSL/DSL modem, i wouldnt even bother to go to the store. it's all about the instant gratification.