Lou Reed Upset By MP3 Quality; Has He Ever Listened To Velvet Underground Recordings?
from the it's-not-about-audio-quality dept
Since when is Lou Reed an audiophile? Down at SXSW Reed gave a talk where he complained about the sound quality of MP3 technology and the fact that people didn't realize how awful they sounded. This is a complaint made by quite a few other people as well, who seem to ignore the fact that for most people and most music, MP3 technology is perfectly good enough, and the convenience of being able to carry around more, is a lot more important than a barely (if at all) noticeable change in audio quality. In the meantime, has Lou Reed listened to any of his early Velvet Underground recordings? I don't recall "audio quality" being one of the key characteristics of those songs...Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
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Filed Under: lou reed, mp3, music, quality, velvet underground
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Some Words Of Wisdom
(And I bet he didn't have any truck with DRM either.)
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It all depends on how you're listening
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Re: It all depends on how you're listening
Here’s one piece of equipment you can get for 10 grand.
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why does this article say more than the linked art
Reed seems to be referring to 128kbs mp3s, which do sound pretty crappy, because he then mentions the "better mp3 technology" which one can only assume is 256kbs+ mp3 or the like.
Regardless, the linked article was lacking any substance for Reed "taking aim" at mp3 technology(it was HORRIBLY written to say the least) and why you chose to treat it as though it had something useful to impart is beyond me. If I were your editor the big question would be "where is the story?"
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Re: why does this article say more than the linked
I think that's the wrong assumption. On my read, he seems to be talking about some *new* audio offering, not higher bit rate mp3s. He says: "you hear they've got a newer version (of MP3) that sounds better..." That's not talking about higher bit rate, that's talking about a new technology and talking down about mp3 technology.
Either way, the point does still stand. He seems to be trashing the sound quality of a technology that still offers much better sound quality than his own early recordings.
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Re: Re: why does this article say more than the li
I also haven't read where anyone else seems to have heard Lou say this and thought he was trashing mp3 technology(not like it matters since he's a musician and not a techie or audiophile) so I'll just hold any further comments until some real light is shed on the subject.
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Re: why does this article say more than the linked
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Re:
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Re: Senator Ted Stevens™, Creator of Law
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OGG
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Re: OGG
you like OGG cuz you are an Open Source homo and youd rather listen to your free open source OGG crap than pay for quality. if you had ears, you would have said youd rather have slightly larger files employing FLAC or .shn lossless algorhythms and just buy bigger drives. OGG isnt any better than any other lossy paradigm.
go lossless if you want open and cheap.
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Re: OGG
It's an open-source replacement firmware project. They support most ipods and a bunch of other players, too (iRivers, Archos, etc). The firmware handles a ton of codecs, including ogg and flac.
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Analog is just better
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Re: Analog is just better
Did you have a point?
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audiophiles
Good music is good whether hummed by an acquaintance, on CD, on a high-end tape system or worn vinyl on a phonograph with a nickle taped to the tone arm. mp3 certainly fits in there somewhere...
*-of course, "at the end of the day" ranks with "on the ground" and "moving forward" as an irritating and unnecessary phrase, but there it is...
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*yawn*
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No one can hear the difference
Most of the time, if someone could identify the compressed track, it was simply a correct guess and not repeatable with any accuracy.
I doubt very many people could hear a difference in 256+ bitrate files, even on top-end gear.
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Re: No one can hear the difference
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Re: Re: No one can hear the difference
It's just butt-simple physics: Digital can never approach the fidelity of any analog format. Because it's *digital.*
Can I get a "doye," please?
Whether you let your records get dusty or scratchy, that's your problem, not the format's ...
If you can't tell the difference between a CD and an LP (on even a half-decent system) then fine, don't worry about it. You're lucky. Enjoy.
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Re: No one can hear the difference
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The heat was just getting to him
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Re:
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My version
Either of which is silly. All those years ago, the media was out of the box, and sounded great.
I think most people will tell you, that as good as digital is, its not analog. The world we live in is. Light, and sound come to our sense in perfectly analougue way.
What happens when you digitize something, you are giving the sound a series of cuts. No matter how fast you can sample, there is still that crazy sample rate.
In fact, there was a study a few years ago, that MP3's were tricking your ears, into hearing something that wasnt there.
Mostly because the music is compressed. The playback is missing a whole lot of dtuff in the middle.
In effect rendering the listener deaf.
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lou who
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"Satellite's gone, way up to Mars" my ass.
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Re:
These are the music "consumers" we keep hearing about. They "consume" music... which is 21st century street-speak for "haven't even listened to 60% of stuff on my ipod but my mates like it and I'm well gangsta." They've never heard of Lou Reed *snigger3* or have any idea of the huge influence he and his band have had on the contents of their shit-filled-ipod. Music is like a big-mac to them.
Reed is completely right: when DID digital come to mean shite?
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This is ridiculous
http://www.geocities.com/altbinariessoundsmusicclassical/mp3test.html
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It is not true- there is a major difference
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Re: It is not true- there is a major difference
A friend of mine, his grandfather was an audiophile. His grandfather had a lot of vintage equipment from the 60's & 70's. I was never able to tell the difference but after listening & comparing 'Dark Side of the Moon' in LP form & then @ 320kb/s mp3. There is a HUGE difference but that's only if you are listening to it on a high end sound system. I couldn't really tell the difference on a normal system.
If you ask me I will take the space savings any day. I have over 25,000 albums on my little 3.5" hard drive if I was to have the same amount of albums I would need an entire room to store all of that shit.
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Re: Re: It is not true- there is a major differenc
Multiple double-blinded studies have shown that there is no perceptible difference between a high-bitrate lossy encoding, a standard lossless, and a fresh LP. Of course a worn LP will sound a bit different, because it's worn and that affects the sound.
As well, the difference between a high-end audiophile system and a $200 stereo is so small that only people who were born with exceptionally sensitive ears can hear it. When comparing low-end audiophile equipment to high-end, we're once again in the realm of no perceptible difference. People will pay tens of thousands of dollars for absolutely nothing, and it's a nothing that can be scientifically proven.
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Re: Re: Re: It is not true- there is a major diffe
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What you say sonny
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Back to Intertubes
No dumptrucks here!
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CDs are already bad enough - MP3s just don't sound
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He's right - its true
I still love my mp3s though, many other benefits besides quality.
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Monsters
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