MP3 is dead!

F1nut wrote: »

Why am I not surprised by who here is defending the MP3 format.

nbrowser wrote: »

lightman1 wrote: »

" XT32 is considered one of the better room correction systems. But what it set my speaker levels to sounded off to @lightman1 and I. "

And I was half loaded at the time as well.
Booze enhancement feature......not a stock option on AVRs.

Booze Enhancement can make anything sound good, even Jesse's Hello Kitty Boombox.

steveinaz wrote: »

I don't know, with hard drive realestate so cheap. That's MY point.

DonnerUndBlitzen wrote: »

tonyb wrote: »

DonnerUndBlitzen wrote: »

Tonyb wrote:

"Now, why would you buy a cd and download it to a lessor quality format ? Even entry level receivers can do PCM and higher bit rate files."

The "auto-rip" feature at Amazon comes with the CD purchase. There still are people that are not savvy enough with computers to rip their files to mp3 or other digital formats. People also own mp3 players that may play that format and maybe WMA but not other formats. Or, the player has limited memory. My first Zen Nano player held one gig -about 11 hours of mp3 at 192 kps. My second player had 16 gigs. That is a ton of Mp3 but not a ton of CDs.

I did not buy CDs from CD Universe, on many of the CDs, they offer the option of buying the CD and then wait for it to arrive in the mail or buying a 320Kps Mp3 version of that CD. Often the Mp3 version costs significantly less. I bought several Multi-CD Mp3 classical downloads for $9.99 and each of these was at least $50 each.

I can understand portable devices like your nano player, but being savvy enough with computers ? It's a couple clicks of the mouse in ITunes, and every computer comes with ITunes these days I would imagine. Matter of fact, it's probably easier to download a cd into ITunes in lossless than it is transferring MP3 files to a portable player.

Point was, buying the cd, you can always convert that file to MP3, but buying an MP3, you can't convert it to cd quality. Your choice of buying the MP3 version, as you said, was cost initiated, not because one format sounded better than the other.

Not to offend anyone, But I've had a long standing theory about opinions on anything audio related being tied to ones wallet. If they can't afford something, it becomes invalidated, can't hear a difference to warrant the money spent, or another opinion to justify what they hear or don't hear. I'll never afford Magico speakers, doesn't mean I can't appreciate them for what they are.

Audio is about the appreciation of music reproduction, not validating the level of it your at.....or condemning the levels higher than where your at as being insignificant. Sure, MP3's still has a place, but that place isn't for serious listening on your main stereo rig.

What I wrote about "being savvy" with computers is 100% right. You may take for granted using computers, installing software, learning new software, downloading and installing updates. In the real world this is not a given. For example, one of my lady friends that gives me rides (I'm disabled) is in her early 80s. She is not afraid of computers, but if anything goes wrong (as it seems to do every other month) she is either on the phone to her son in WI or takes her laptop, printer, etc. to the "Geek Squad" for help. She is not alone in my circle of friends. As long as what she does is "plug and play" and simply involves turning on the device and hitting enter, she is good to go. Much beyond that, she is in the dark.

I have never met anyone that was averse to higher quality audio simply because it is beyond their budget. I heard a complete McIntosh system that cost more than a luxury car and smoked my mid-fi stereo. I was not denial, nor envious. Instead, I enjoyed hearing it and getting a much better idea of how hi up is. The same is true with other high end things like cars. I can enjoy my friend's 55 Pontiac that is restored to beyond cherry. It would be forever and a day for me to learn how to do what he did. Life is filled with stuff that I cannot afford or things I cannot do. But that does not stop me from being a fan and enjoying the game on TV.

But many people at this forum are averse to scientific inquiry and double blind testing. With different types of audio files, I will continue to read the studies and test for myself. I'm even going to try SACD after I buy a blu-ray player that will play those discs. If they sound better, that is great.