Now, In all of this, I certainly do not mean to demean the value of the .Mp3 file format, or any of its cousins, brothers, or sisters. For those of you for whom these posts are a revelation (if anyone currently knows of this blog at all, hahaha), I urge you not to re-purchase thousands of dollars worth of .Mp3 files on CDs and cause yourself financial trouble. I have no trouble listening to .Mp3's, myself. From now on I will buy the CDs, but for the .Mp3 and .AAC files that I currently own from iTunes or Rhapsody, I will not go out and waste good money that was spent on buying high quality digital files by buying the same songs on CDs, excepting a select few, which I would really like to have in lossless.
.Mp3's and .AAC's, in the proper encoding, such as iTunes or Rhapsody, are excellent. I would have no problem purchasing songs that I could not get on CD, or needed very quickly, from iTunes or Rhapsody, and continuing to listen to them. The quality is superb. Do not be afraid to continue purchasing in .mp3 format if it is really not too large of an issue for you. Their encoding is good, and they are designed to make you think that nothing is different.
One great advantage is that all songs are now widely available to everyone, whether they are popular or obscure. It is an interesting fact that Baroque, Classical, and Romantic music, all put under the broad and general term, "Classical," have benefited most from online purchasing, more than any other genre, in terms of circulation, as well as in, I believe so, at least, profits. They offer themselves as an excellent tool to people who prefer having lossless audio as well. One can, "test the waters," online, and then purchase the CD and rip to lossless later.
The .Mp3 is undoubtedly powerful, and I certainly see no decline in its popularity in the near future, unless it is in favor of a better lossy format, such as the .AAC file format.
However, for true study and listening, lossless and raw formats will always be superior to the .Mp3, .AAC, or any other lossy format.
Monday, December 3, 2007
On the Ease and Availability of Lossless Sound Files
I recently posted a comment on a post by a good friend of mine at Maria's Music. He raised an excellent point about the value of actually owning a physical CD. You should read his post here. I've already discussed on this blog the value of raw and lossless audio, but what I want to dive a little deeper into is the ease and availability of using lossless sound files.
The main reasons for the invention of the .mp3 and other lossy codecs were hard drive space conservation and faster internet downloads. Raw .wav files would take hours to download on 56k dial up connections. I remember back when the .mp3 was truly popularized with the rise of Napster in 1999. Our family owned a desktop which had a 10GB hard drive, which was considered good for that time. I now run a Macbook Pro with a 200GB hard drive, and that is considered moderately large today.
Space is no longer an issue. I recently purchased a 500GB external hard drive, which runs extremely well, for $100. I will not even come close to filling it for a very long time. A 500GB hard drive can hold approximately 1,667 CDs in lossless format; not songs, but CDs. One could hold their entire family's CD collection, and probably that of a neighbor or two on a hard drive of this size in full, lush, and clear lossless format. A somewhat outdated rule of thumb for buying storage was that if one was buying at a rate of $1 per GB, they were buying for a good price. I must admit that I purchased mine during a black Friday sale, but my father recently purchased one (and a better model at that) for $134. Storage is cheap and available, and most will not need 500GB. Most often, depending on the size of the CD collection, a 200GB HD or 350GB HD will be more than enough, selling for under $100.
The iPod classic can now hold either 80GB or 160GB of songs or other media files, depending on the model. That is enough space for (rough math) 267 CDs in Apple Lossless format on the 80GB model, or for 534 CDs in Apple Lossless format on the 160GB model. I believe that very few people personally own 534 CDs, much less even 100 CDs, and that is the space on a portable player!
Internet connection speed is no longer a problem either. Apple either has or will soon implement a service where one can pay a little extra and buy songs in lossless format. Most connections are either cable or DSL at this point, with speeds ranging, on average, from 1500k to 3000k.
One is now able to enjoy full quality media, safely secure and store it, and transfer it (legally with purchase) with great ease.
The main reasons for the invention of the .mp3 and other lossy codecs were hard drive space conservation and faster internet downloads. Raw .wav files would take hours to download on 56k dial up connections. I remember back when the .mp3 was truly popularized with the rise of Napster in 1999. Our family owned a desktop which had a 10GB hard drive, which was considered good for that time. I now run a Macbook Pro with a 200GB hard drive, and that is considered moderately large today.
Space is no longer an issue. I recently purchased a 500GB external hard drive, which runs extremely well, for $100. I will not even come close to filling it for a very long time. A 500GB hard drive can hold approximately 1,667 CDs in lossless format; not songs, but CDs. One could hold their entire family's CD collection, and probably that of a neighbor or two on a hard drive of this size in full, lush, and clear lossless format. A somewhat outdated rule of thumb for buying storage was that if one was buying at a rate of $1 per GB, they were buying for a good price. I must admit that I purchased mine during a black Friday sale, but my father recently purchased one (and a better model at that) for $134. Storage is cheap and available, and most will not need 500GB. Most often, depending on the size of the CD collection, a 200GB HD or 350GB HD will be more than enough, selling for under $100.
The iPod classic can now hold either 80GB or 160GB of songs or other media files, depending on the model. That is enough space for (rough math) 267 CDs in Apple Lossless format on the 80GB model, or for 534 CDs in Apple Lossless format on the 160GB model. I believe that very few people personally own 534 CDs, much less even 100 CDs, and that is the space on a portable player!
Internet connection speed is no longer a problem either. Apple either has or will soon implement a service where one can pay a little extra and buy songs in lossless format. Most connections are either cable or DSL at this point, with speeds ranging, on average, from 1500k to 3000k.
One is now able to enjoy full quality media, safely secure and store it, and transfer it (legally with purchase) with great ease.
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