I totally agree with you. But for different reasons (including some hardware MP3 decoder bugs) I did choose CBR 256kbps to backup my CDs.
I'm using MP3 to backup my CDs. I've broken a couple of CDs recently (partly because of my 1 year old son;-) and I just want a backup. 256kbps quality cannot be picked up from the original (at least by anyone I know and by listening) on $450 headphones. I think that'll do it.
To try and answer everybody, you actually made a point I failed to address. MP3 should be used for LISTENING. The whole point of this compression is to remove frequencies that the global level of music is masking. Therefore, if you take an MP3 and apply a filter out of it (any kind), you will loose A LOT OF QUALITY, because the point of any filter is to modify the original and so some frequencies that were masked could have become audible.
Besides that, the main problem with MP3 is not a masking of frequencies but artifacts (I said the MAIN problem, of course frequency loss counts). The psy model used in an mp3 encoder will allow strong artifacts that could (and will) show up if you apply basic filters.
Well, you should try then one simple test, that I did for myself and my friends. I just ripped a track of one of my favorites CD and encoded it with my favorite MP3 encoder (lame) to 160, 192, 256 kbps. I then burned a new CD-R with four tracks (original, 160, 192 and 256) in a random order. Since then, I'm looking for someone to be able to put those tracks in the right order.
No one has been able to until then, and I'm not only talking (only) about average people. I have some friends which (unlike me) have a decent equipment.
Usually these guys were able to clearly distinguish 160kbps from the set. With 2-3 pass they detected the 192kbps track and they couldn't tell the difference between the 256kbps and the original.
Maybe I could send you guys some samples...
Just keep in mind also that MP3 is the same type of compression than DTS & AC3 (Dolby Digital) and I've never heard someone complain about those (especially DTS). If you're unhappy with quality, just increase bitrate. And if those guys in the MPEG consortium felt that 320kbps should be the maximum, It should mean something.
I'll just say that when we argue over "Did they lose a sale" or not, it's not a question of "Are you going to buy the CD you've just downloaded". Not at all. In my case for example, I think the Napster period got me to buy more CDs than I would have bought otherwise.
I explain. When downloading 96kbps MP3 over napster, I certainly never hoped to have a "CD quality" music. the whole point of that was to download tons of stuff for the sake of trying it. Then I discovered a lot of new artists and I actually bought some CDs I would never have bought otherwise. In this sense I think having installed Napster on my PC made my buy more CDs...
And for the cookies, please, don't be afraid, storing 50 bytes of plain text on your hard drive will not run you out of space.
There's a good reason for this. The biggest problem with debugging multithreaded code is preventing the threads from shooting each other in the foot. On unix-like systems, there's a simple, elegant solution to this: processes.
May I add that in both worlds (windows/unix) there's another elegant solution to this: Object oriented programming !
That is basically not true. Core C# IS Core Java (modulo some syntax shorcuts) would be more accurate. When is comes to libraries, C# has NOTHING TO DO with Java. The event model is just one of these examples.
Hence, the Java developer will be lost with no one of his preferred utilities classes...
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I totally agree with you. But for different reasons (including some hardware MP3 decoder bugs) I did choose CBR 256kbps to backup my CDs.
;-) and I just want a backup. 256kbps quality cannot be picked up from the original (at least by anyone I know and by listening) on $450 headphones. I think that'll do it.
I'm using MP3 to backup my CDs. I've broken a couple of CDs recently (partly because of my 1 year old son
To try and answer everybody, you actually made a point I failed to address. MP3 should be used for LISTENING. The whole point of this compression is to remove frequencies that the global level of music is masking. Therefore, if you take an MP3 and apply a filter out of it (any kind), you will loose A LOT OF QUALITY, because the point of any filter is to modify the original and so some frequencies that were masked could have become audible.
Besides that, the main problem with MP3 is not a masking of frequencies but artifacts (I said the MAIN problem, of course frequency loss counts). The psy model used in an mp3 encoder will allow strong artifacts that could (and will) show up if you apply basic filters.
Well, you should try then one simple test, that I did for myself and my friends. I just ripped a track of one of my favorites CD and encoded it with my favorite MP3 encoder (lame) to 160, 192, 256 kbps. I then burned a new CD-R with four tracks (original, 160, 192 and 256) in a random order. Since then, I'm looking for someone to be able to put those tracks in the right order.
No one has been able to until then, and I'm not only talking (only) about average people. I have some friends which (unlike me) have a decent equipment.
Usually these guys were able to clearly distinguish 160kbps from the set. With 2-3 pass they detected the 192kbps track and they couldn't tell the difference between the 256kbps and the original.
Maybe I could send you guys some samples...
Just keep in mind also that MP3 is the same type of compression than DTS & AC3 (Dolby Digital) and I've never heard someone complain about those (especially DTS). If you're unhappy with quality, just increase bitrate. And if those guys in the MPEG consortium felt that 320kbps should be the maximum, It should mean something.
Lossless compressors have such a poor ratio!
No matter what brand I used, TDK, Memorex... After 30-40 rewrites, the CD starts showing problems on my MP3 CD player as well as in my DVD player...
By the way, I rewrite in 8X with a Yamaha 2100 drive, and the drive doesn't show any errors while burning.
Maybe those new 8cm MP3 CD players answers this question...
No proprietary media, small, good batteries and - best of all - a $.50 200MB media. Why caring about MD ??
Well, it seems mr Coward is angry!
I'll just say that when we argue over "Did they lose a sale" or not, it's not a question of "Are you going to buy the CD you've just downloaded". Not at all. In my case for example, I think the Napster period got me to buy more CDs than I would have bought otherwise.
I explain. When downloading 96kbps MP3 over napster, I certainly never hoped to have a "CD quality" music. the whole point of that was to download tons of stuff for the sake of trying it. Then I discovered a lot of new artists and I actually bought some CDs I would never have bought otherwise. In this sense I think having installed Napster on my PC made my buy more CDs...
And for the cookies, please, don't be afraid, storing 50 bytes of plain text on your hard drive will not run you out of space.
There's a good reason for this. The biggest problem with debugging multithreaded code is preventing the threads from shooting each other in the foot. On unix-like systems, there's a simple, elegant solution to this: processes.
May I add that in both worlds (windows/unix) there's another elegant solution to this: Object oriented programming !
That is basically not true. Core C# IS Core Java (modulo some syntax shorcuts) would be more accurate.
When is comes to libraries, C# has NOTHING TO DO with Java. The event model is just one of these examples.
Hence, the Java developer will be lost with no one of his preferred utilities classes...