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RE: The MP3 is finally dead

Posted by jaydacus on May 17, 2017 at 05:43:16

In Reply to: RE: The MP3 is finally dead posted by Mr_Steady on May 17, 2017 at 05:03:32:

My first MP3 experience was downloading tracks on Napster. The computer I was using was so slow that it could not even play MP3s(100mhz 486). I upgraded to a 100mhz Pentium computer that could play MP3s which I used to record to cassette and listen to on headphones at work.

Eventually I got a CD "Burner" and realised that MP3s were lacking in quality compared to the .wav files I could rip from prerecorded CDs. I only had dial up so larger files, which were not incredibly common at that point anyway, were off the menu.

After I got my first "cable modem" it made the task of downloading 3-5 copies of each track on an album to find the least awful sounding to burn a free CD easier. Back then the ripping and encoding quality varied widely depending on what software and CD ROM drive was being used.

Downloading ISO images of CDs was a thing for about 30 seconds before I discovered FLAC files which quickly became very popular on bittorrent tracker sites. Several music only bittorrent sites popped up and were not yet "invite only".

After pretty much anything worth listening to became available on FLAC I adopted an unofficial "no MP3" policy on my computers. That was about a decade ago.

MP3s were once essential in a world of tiny storage capacities and dial up internet connections, but serve no purpose with the multi terabyte hard drives and multi megabyte per second internet connections that are now the standard.

Edits: 05/17/17

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