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Re: [ARSCLIST] The "dumbing down" of Downloaded Recordings



Let me chime in here.

It seems clear to me that the compressed final product is in the ear of the producer originating the recording- that the record, as made in the studio, must sound similar enough to what will be heard on the buds to not call attention to the loss. Live music is heard through speakers in venues with their own disortion. It's understanable that no one knows what music sounds like or should sound like.

Steve Smolian


----- Original Message ----- From: "Jim Lindner" <jim@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <ARSCLIST@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Friday, January 25, 2008 11:08 AM
Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] The "dumbing down" of Downloaded Recordings



I totally agree Bob - and I think that the time has come to say something about it. It does not have to be adversarial and in fact a "high quality" download is something that else the distributors can sell - but we need to stand up and say - "wait a minute" - there are some of us who want quality and are paying for it, and do not feel that we are getting what we are paying for. There is NO question that AAC files are very inferior as compared to what was previously distributed. People need to be aware of the issue, educated as to what the differences are, and given the option to vote (with their wallet) for higher quality. Distributors must be made to see that offering high quality enhances their image as a high quality company and that the marginal cost to distribute high quality files as opposed to severely compressed ones is almost unmeasurable. They need to understand that arguing for low quality is not where they want to be in the marketplace. It is a persuasive argument - and one that our field should rally around.



Jim Lindner

Email: jim@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

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On Jan 25, 2008, at 10:52 AM, Bob Olhsson wrote:

-----Original Message-----
From Jim Lindner: "...With the hundreds of articles I
have been reading on the changes in media distribution (literally
hundreds and is this a REALLY big surprise??) I have not read one -
not one - that makes any mention of the fact that the quality of the
recordings being distributed by download are significantly compressed
and poorer then those distributed on media..."

This is because most of those so-called articles are actually press releases
from the folks promoting download technology.



Bob Olhsson Audio Mastery, Nashville TN Mastering, Audio for Picture, Mix Evaluation and Quality Control Over 40 years making people sound better than they ever imagined! 615.385.8051 http://www.hyperback.com http://womb.mixerman.net




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