The Sandspur

Issue date: 10/30/09 Section: Arts & Entertainment

Media Credit: MCT Campus BITE THIS: Apple's iPod remains the largest selling player worldwide with over 220,000,000 sold.

Just as there used to be a Golden Age of radio, it seems that we are currently living in the Golden Age of MP3's. The signs are obvious: online music stores are bustling, artists are making available their entire albums for streaming, and artists are even abandoning the hard disk album format altogether and releasing brand new songs strictly online. For example, The Smashing Pumpkins are releasing a large number of songs one at a time for online download…for free. The compact disc may very well go the way of vinyl. MP3's, however, are frequently criticized for their compressed, diminished quality. Does this mean that, overall, music fans recognize and prefer higher quality sounds such as those produced on a CD?

Disappointingly to audiophiles, this is not the case according to recent surveys measuring preferences of music quality. Listeners are said to prefer MP3's to uncompressed, high fidelity formats. The "sizzle" in lower quality MP3's is said to be just as preferred as the older generation preferred the pops and dust noise created by playing a vinyl. MP3 popularity seems to be more of a modern cultural phenomenon. This is prevalent more among fans of rock music because there is more of a "percussive" feel to the quality of the heavier, driving style of music.

As a response to the public's want for the accessible MP3, artists have been showing signs of pandering to the public and lowering the quality of the recording, and instead boosting the sound. Many who follow the music industry are familiar with the Loudness Wars phenomenon: bands have been increasing the volume of their production to often ear-splitting levels while diminishing the quality and clarity. Are the consumers of their favorite music getting used to this? Have they ever cared at all, for that matter?

MP3's appeal to the general public not due to better-sounding tracks, but rather their incredible versatility. The middle of this decade has demonstrated the departure from the CD by the introduction of the iPod and other MP3 players with features and technological advances increased by the year. Not only are portable CD players becoming relics, but due to the fast pace in the evolution of the MP3 player, those larger than the palm of one's hand are considered impractical or nostalgic. Rollins College student Philip Brady (class of 2012) commented that although he always appreciates high quality music, the accessibility and versatility of today's music in the form of MP3's make the format essential to this generation. However, not everyone is happy about this change. Recording studios are not nearly as enthusiastic as the mass audience about this ongoing trend.

According to "Theory States Listeners Prefer Mp3 Quality over Vinyl and CD" on BeatCrave.com, Stephen Street, producer for artists such as Blur, the Cranberries, and the Kaiser Chiefs lamented that, "What you are hearing is that everything is being squared off and is losing that level of depth and clarity. I'd hate to think that anything I'd slaved over in the studio is only going to be listened to on a bloody iPod."

Are critics of the modern methods of distributing music justified, or is this just slowing the wheels of progress? Either way, there is no stopping MP3's from replacing bulkier formats, no matter how superior in quality they are. If listeners fully embrace MP3's, will higher quality recordings finally return to replace the processed, overly loud norm? Due to the incredible speed of the evolution of music accessibility, the fluid future is of tremendous interest.

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