[mdlug] DRM Wal-Mart

[Aaron Kulkis]

Michael wrote:
> Your right I should qualify lossless meaning not losing noticeable sound.

Only on lousy speakers and cheap headphones in noisy environments.

Unfortunately, this is setting a new standard in the music
industry... They're using a lot of volume compression (that
is, reducing the difference between the loudest and softest
parts), and the turning the levels real hot....which is why
even the genuinely musical productions are sounding like
total crap (like the Aguilara song that's supposed to be a
throwback to the old WW2 Andrews Sisters songs) -- never mind
the mindless, mechanical sampling and repitition rather than
continuous performance from start to finish :-(.

> The way mp3 is compressed is by eliminating the sounds that aren't used
> frequently, mostly the highs of the highs and the lows of the lows and at
> the higher bitrate there is no real audio quality loss, but indeed it is
> still compressed and data is lost. And on top of that there is always the
> risk that the copying will mess up the original data. There are some crappy
> mp3 encoders out there.

Try listening to an original recording on a good stereo system
Then listen to the best MP3 of the same material on the same
system.  Courtney Love was absolutely correct when she said
that MP3's "sound like cr*p."

[She may be a low-talent, skanky ho-bag, but she actually does
make a lot of accurate observations about the music business).


> 
> On Wed, Apr 9, 2008 at 12:19 PM, Joseph C. Bender <jcbender at bendorius.com>
> wrote:
> 
>> Michael wrote:
>>> The comment is uninformed. In all reality if size isn't a factor MP3s
>> can be
>>> completely lossless.
>>  >
>>         Not by design, it isn't.  MP3 uses a lossy compression method
>> regardless of bitrate.  It's not a reversible process, you're not going
>> to get the same file back out of a MP3 codec that you shoved into it.
>>