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Quality Lacking in New Music Technology
by
findingDulcinea Staff
CD sales are down and MP3 downloads are up. But is sound quality suffering at the hands of the new technology?
30-Second Summary
A majority of the music produced today ends up as MP3s, played over computers and digital players and listened to through headphones.
In fact, the rise of the MP3 as the music industry’s dominant format even has engineers mixing music differently. They do that by “applying dynamic range compression, which reduces the difference between the loudest and softest sounds in a song,” Rolling Stone reports.
According to Steely Dan’s Donald Fagen, Bob Dylan and others quoted in the music magazine’s article, these new production methods are making music sound worse.
Nonetheless, MP3s are how most people, especially teenagers, are listening to music.
The Los Angeles Times reports that almost half of teenagers bought no CDs last year.
Instead, they are turning to both legal and illegal download sites. Apple’s iTunes store recently surpassed Best Buy Co. to become the second-most popular place for music sales in the United States. Wal-Mart is number one.
Slate’s Fred Kaplan both defends and criticizes the MP3 revolution.
Some music aficionados claim the search for quality-sounding music in this new technological age is a waste of time, but Kaplan disagrees.
He argues that high-quality stereo systems make it possible to remain an “audiophile” even in the realm of the MP3.
Regardless of their sound-quality shortcomings, MP3s are the superior format when efficiency is of utmost importance. Then “bad sound is good enough,” Kaplan writes.
In fact, the rise of the MP3 as the music industry’s dominant format even has engineers mixing music differently. They do that by “applying dynamic range compression, which reduces the difference between the loudest and softest sounds in a song,” Rolling Stone reports.
According to Steely Dan’s Donald Fagen, Bob Dylan and others quoted in the music magazine’s article, these new production methods are making music sound worse.
Nonetheless, MP3s are how most people, especially teenagers, are listening to music.
The Los Angeles Times reports that almost half of teenagers bought no CDs last year.
Instead, they are turning to both legal and illegal download sites. Apple’s iTunes store recently surpassed Best Buy Co. to become the second-most popular place for music sales in the United States. Wal-Mart is number one.
Slate’s Fred Kaplan both defends and criticizes the MP3 revolution.
Some music aficionados claim the search for quality-sounding music in this new technological age is a waste of time, but Kaplan disagrees.
He argues that high-quality stereo systems make it possible to remain an “audiophile” even in the realm of the MP3.
Regardless of their sound-quality shortcomings, MP3s are the superior format when efficiency is of utmost importance. Then “bad sound is good enough,” Kaplan writes.
Headline Links: The decline of sound quality
“Over the past decade and a half, a revolution in recording technology has changed the way albums are produced, mixed and mastered—almost always for the worse,” according to Rolling Stone. Industry experts and musicians discuss how modern technology is changing the way music sounds.
Source: Rolling Stone
A new report finds that almost half of all teenagers bought no CDs last year. In addition, despite the popularity of illegal music downloading, legal downloading sites like iTunes are picking up steam.
Source: Los Angeles Times (free subscription required)
Opinion: ‘In Defense of Audiophiles’
Fred Kaplan argues in Slate that MP3s are “plenty good enough” if you “want to carry around 1,000 songs in your pocket; if you want to hear a beat and a melody while you jog or ride on the subway,” but concludes that CDs or LPs on a good stereo system hold the key to music quality.
Source: Slate
Analysis: "Few Listeners Can Tell "Best" MP3 Samples from "Average"'
When Cognitive Daily put listeners to the test, few could tell the difference between “average” and “best” MP3 recordings. Only 33 out of 700 were able to tell the difference between 128 kbps and 256 kpbs data rates.
Source: Cognitive Daily
Related Topic: ‘Want Better Music? Don't Stiff the Songwriters’
Songwriters want a financial stake in new technology, according to Wired magazine. Echoing the recent Hollywood writers strike, songwriters want an increase from 9.1 cents to 12.5 cents in royalties for CDs, downloads and songs sold through subscription music services, ringtones and interactive Web casts.
Source: Wired
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