CD vs MP3
I have become so used to listening to my music in MP3 format that I am wondering if I have unknowingly accepted a lower quality of music. Like most formats, MP3 is compressed, so there is inevitably some loss of quality, even if it is unapparent to the listener.
The other day I was doing some work on my laptop which doesn’t have any music stored in iTunes – and I didn’t want to turn on my desktop Mac to wirelessly stream music – so I popped in a CD (I’ve only just unpacked all of my CDs from a rather beaten-up cardboard box onto some shelf space in the house).
Maybe I was just in the mood to listen to a complete CD (I often listen to music in ‘random’ mode now) and it was the right selection (Dire Straits On the Night) but there was something different about it.
Of corse I always used to listen to CDs, before I had a computer that could encode CDs, and an iPod, and I was listening on quality headphones which gave a better all-round sound, but I’m wondering if listening to the music direct from the CD had returned my listening experience to the original quality.
Could it be similar to the argument that vinyl records are of better quality than CDs – analogue is better than digital – though the media degrade more quickly.
I always encode my music at as high a rate as possible, and now I use Apple’s AAC encoding format which is supposed to be of better quality with more compression.
there’s a touch of nostalgia (if nostalgia can set in so soon) of taking a physical object – a CD – from its rack, putting it into the CD player, and pressing the play button. Those were the days.
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May 17th, 2005 at 8:10 pm
I rip using the ACC lossless codec – the resulting files are much bigger but are almost indistinguishable from the CD.
Cheers,
JTk
May 18th, 2005 at 2:44 am
> I have become so used to listening to my music in MP3 format that I am
> wondering if I have unknowingly accepted a lower quality of music.
Well, duh.
May 18th, 2005 at 3:30 am
I know CDs are lower volume, and because they are digital, there is loss of sonic information, the ear processes music analogically.
I don’t know much about MP3s, but I’ve heard that CDs deteriorate in 5 to 15 years.
I hate the RIAA and the music industry, though I’m opposed to illegal downloads.
It’s been proven that those who tape music off the radio, put CD music on cassette, download music files, tend to buy more music, not less.
So the recording industry is whining greedily for stupid reasons.
My band encouraged audiences to bootleg, photograph, videotape our music.
May 18th, 2005 at 7:20 am
Hey Mr Mindspring “OS X” – that’s really constructive. Try using more than mono-syllabic ape noises, and stop being anonymous, and I might take your comments seriously.
May 19th, 2005 at 9:19 am
Of course about the worst thing you can do to your music it to re-encode it from one compression format to another. So even if you always listen to your music on MP3 you should never throw the originals out!
May 19th, 2005 at 10:30 am
That’s one reason why I still prefer to buy music on CD. MP3 is fine for ‘on-the-move’ where the quality tends not to have to be so high – or rather it’s sufficient for the enviroment (trains, cars, busy streets, etc.)
March 17th, 2008 at 2:45 am
Yeah, nobody can tell the difference between 300 kps and CD quality even on a hi-fi audiophile system so shut the fuck up about there being a difference. Google it and see the tons of ppl who have blind tested it and discovered this.
April 5th, 2008 at 7:22 pm
I think Andy’s commentary is the most balanced I’ve seen so far. For those of us who grew up with physical media, it’s not so much a matter of sound quality (some of us just use that as an excuse to stick with obviously less practical physical media) as it is that we are just used to a tactile/visual association with our music. But, perhaps it’s just time to admit that music is not about plastic disks in plastic cases with paper booklets. It’s about what we hear. Sure, paging through a nicely prepared booklet is fun. But let us not forget that there was a time when there were no recordings and all music was heard only live. There were no artsy covers to contemplate, no lyric sheets, bios or liner notes to ponder– just music. And while I admit to a certain sadness in seeing the CD gradualy slip off into oblivion, perhaps it’s good to be weaned off of things irrelevant to what music is actually about, much as it is good when a mother gradually cuts her child’s security blanket down smaller and smaller until he learns to live without it. Mind you, I don’t agree with the popular philosophy that implies that people who prefer CDs to downloading are not true music lovers. That’s just silly. Whatever media you choose, if you’re listening, you must love music or you wouldn’t be listening at all. That being said, music is about personal interpretation, and how our emotions are effected– how it makes us feel. It’s not about vinyl, tapes, CDs or even iPods; those are just the carrying agents. Music is about comfort, motivation and inspiration, whatever you hear it on. (I always smile when I hear downloaders say “I HATE CDs”. How can you hate something that never bit you?) I personally will still enjoy my CDs while I can still get them. Silly, perhaps, but like I said, they’re fun. When I can’t, I will adapt and never look back. Because at least I still have the music.
May 27th, 2008 at 2:21 pm
i’v recently heard that the sonic sounds unheard by the ear r noticed by the brain as missing in the origional music by being compressed format & produce less dophimine into the brain.making the song less enjoyable.
March 11th, 2009 at 2:45 am
Rick W: Maybe that explains why I feel happier when I listen on a CD. ALl my emotional spiritual experiences while listening to music have been when I was playing a CD, and I usually play on mp3. I feel emptier when I play an mp3, possibly because a compact dic isn’t spinning around and theres nothing tangible. It’s just hard to get excited about a compressed computer file, when you have something tangible. Someone mentioned music being about what we hear and not the visual aspect. I disagree. Think of live tribal music, or a concert, there’s tons of visualisations, from the lights, to the singers outfit. Just as those are tangible things, so too is an album, vinyl or CD.
March 27th, 2009 at 2:57 pm
Well I think CD delivers “softer” sound (anyone who still loves vinyl records knows what I mean)
MP3 has better voice clarity but the audio is “dryer”
There is a difference