I first wrote about the "threat" MP3s posed to audiophiles back in 2001 (http://www.audio-ideas.com/columns/mp3-death-knell.html), and that was before the rise of the cultural and technological juggernaut of the iPod. Now, as then, the momentum behind the argument that MP3s just aren't good enough for storing and distributing music is feeble at best. When aficionados and music lovers like Anthony Tommasini declare the format "good enough" in the New York Times it merely reinforces the stark reality that the masses just don't care.
What's particularly galling is that MP3s were designed to be easily transportable in a dial-up centric world in which keeping file sizes small was far more important than it is now. In 2008 you can download HD movies (files that are several gigabytes) from the iTunes Music Store, but the best sounding music you can download from Apple is encoded at 256 Kb per second, creating files that are just a few megabytes. I'm all for convenience and do dearly love my iPod, but with bandwidth and drive space being what they are now, can't we have both?
Now that CD sales are drying up to the point that the days of music on a physical carrier are truly numbered, it gets a little scary for those of us who value decent sound. If MP3s were to become the only choice for the consumer on most new releases it would deal a great blow to music culture, one that for non-audiophiles would manifest itself in listener fatigue, disinterest and lack of emotional involvement in recorded music.
Do one of your white earbud wearing friends a favor and lend them some good headphones. Then play them an MP3 and an AIFF or WAV or FLAC of the same track through said good headphones.
Aaron Marshall
