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AAC/MP3 vs. AIFF/WAV

post #1 of 4
9/4/06 at 11:34pm
Thread Starter 
I came across an interesting thought today, my kids primary source of obtaining music is through the iTunes Music Store and it is clear that they have no intention of ever buying the CD which has the "full" quality version of the song. My question is, does anyone believe that, with their generation, they can't hear the differences between a 128 AAC file vs an uncompressed one (even on outstanding speakers). I argue that they can't, one of my sons was listening to a MP3 that was probably encoded at 96, and I asked him if it bothered him that it sounded like that, and he simply responded with, like what? I must admit that while I use FLAC for my audio CD's i have grown quite fond of the iTunes Music store, and it makes it much easier to buy, and then import on my iPod (has anyone found a good music store that allows you to purchase FLAC files)?

Any additional thoughts?
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post #2 of 4
9/5/06 at 4:28am
It's not just kids and MP3. There are tons of people out there that can't tell the difference between a decent setup with a quality recording and a $150 table top system and scholck recordings (technical term).

It's not that they can't, it's that they don't even try to. Many have never heard a good system, or heaven forbid live music.

In reality, they're hearing, not listening. Maybe not even hearing, maybe just auding.

Bryan
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post #3 of 4
9/5/06 at 7:53am
Quite frankly kids dont care about sound quality unless its realy bad. I did not care when I was young, as long as it was LOUD!

Besides they are going to listen to this group or that group for a couple months and then move on to what ever is popular this week, so it does not make sense to them to buy an entire CD for one song that they won't listen to a few months from now anyway...
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post #4 of 4
4/11/07 at 9:38pm
If you are used to analog sound coming, for example, from a vinyl record you will tell the difference immediately when you listen to compresses formats like AAC or Mp3.

I used to be a 100% analog dj (only vinyl) and then decided to switch to digital. I downloaded my first song from itunes....ooohh my goooood...the quality of sound was terrible.

So then I decided to download, (more pricey) from Beatport, mp3 files @ 320 kbps which are "supposed to be sometimes as good as the original recording"...this is a complete lie. I could tell the difference in each of the 15 songs I downloaded.

They sound ok. period, but there is something missing from the sound. Remember that compressed formats have information removed from them that the human ear can't hear, so the sound becomes crispy and not as warmth as analog sound or uncompressed formats like wav or aiff.

So my only choice was WAV or AIFF and here let me tell you....it's the real thing. Almost as good as vinyl and definitely cleaner. More expensive though, $1 more for each song for what beatport call "wav handling".

So if you are used good quality sound, go for WAV or AIFF. I ripped all my vinyl to my hard drive in AIFF and to double check sound quality I play both songs at the same, switching from vinyl to aiff and I could not tell the difference.

If you are not to picky with sound quality, stay with 192kbps or 320kbps.

If you are a kid, get a radio AM and enjoy!
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