Not long after the Internet was “introduced” to the broad public in Sweden through some 14,4 kBps modems giving phone line access, the first mp3s were being distributed. It marked the beginning of the end of analogue casette based copying if one weren’t picky about the quality. Finding music was a bit random and finding it at 128 kBps quality could be considered luxury.
At that time burning the first CD:s with pirate material of all sorts was equal to hard cash. How about 400 SEK for one disc with games? And having to know the right people to even get the possibility to put your hands on one? There was one such place in Sjöåkra, a part of Bankeryd which is a small town outside Jönköping. Back then the price of a CD was a bit higher, downloads more costly because of per minute costs and regular BBSs mostly provided the material in question. Keeping filesizes down was important in both up- and downloading because of this. Mobile phones were still scarse, expensive and clumsy; an extra phone line was needed if you wanted to do it the professional way.
When connections changed, not surprisingly, much of the Internet changed. While more and more people got access with faster and faster connections without limits, the limits concerning the material itself were gradually abolished. The Internet has gradually been flooded by useless bytes in the same way that much software haven’t been optimized. To a certain degree this is natural; to optimize your system requires skills many ordinary users don’t have. And the combination between users that likes how things look and a Microsoft that does but nothing to satisfy those user desires according to all so called market logics is not a combination that carries fruit in the field of effectivity. At times Windows feels like the Soviet Union of software; its estetics (ideals) are so pretty yet in reality no more than words that try to cover up a reality which comes in the form of a vampire that drains your upgraded system of its technological achievements.
A music file compressed with mpeg layer 3 at 192 kBps quality is probably more than enough for a human ear. Yet, 320 kBps seems to become more and more popular (whether musicians are enjoying the same trend and becoming better and better is questionable). You might think that well, maybe that’s best to be on the safe side since recordning techniques have advanced and should be given more space. True, but guess what? There is actually people who compress bootlegged concert recordnings in 320 kBps stereo (a bootleg is by standard mono since you would need two mics at somewhat different positions to make it stereo). That is aswell the case for some materials copied from LPs’.
Still this is just not enough for some people. You maybe thinking that “if an album occupies less than 100 megabytes that is sufficient; we have reached a point where lessening compression makes no sence – a suitable point for software evolution to stop for a breath a moment.” But now, the FLAC codec is on the move. It stands for “Free Lossless Audio Codec” and is supposed to produce a flawless transcription of audio. If you have bat ears it might be a welcomed arrival.
Worth remembering is that a human ear usually can hear frequencies (the amount of oscillations of a wave per seconds) that range from about 20 Hz up to 15-20 kHz. Ordinary speech ranges between 300 Hz to 3 kHz. That the sampling standard for a CD is 44,1 kHz appears contradictory to reason, but certain theories show that high frequency can affect lower frequency and has hence made an effect of the standard. Still some folks hit the gas pedal and encode in 48 kHz.
A suggestion is that the less you know the more you will be inclined to take in honey dripping technology; technology that says it will enhance your experience just by being advanced technology. But is that so? What has for instance changed when it comes to literature since its beginning (if it is possible to talk about a beginning and not a stage-like process)? The writings of the ancient philosophers are still read today without much change except the translation and modernisation of the language in which it is written. The major change has been the way the text has been accessible, not the idea; what it has depicted. With this fact in mind it is also possible to compare it with the audio evolution.
The relationship between the technological possibilities and the idea are a hierarchical one; advanced technology won’t make a song, but a good song can through technology achieve a stronger correlation between input and output. “Return to sender” therefore will not be a greater experience in 320 kBps than it will in 128 kBps since the technology at the moment of recording is not equal to that of today. And many nerdy, hardcore Elvis enthusiasts would object fiercly to even comparing the experience of listening to the King on CD or mp3 or FLAC with that of the “original” media, LP. It reduces the authenticity in the music, would probably be the argument and whether we think it’s hypocricy or not; just making music in the 50’s fashion isn’t enough to make it true 50’s in these surroundings. It has to have “the 50’s sound” too.
It is even questionable if we ever will need to step past 192 kBps until we can improve our brains and ears. For now, artists need to start go farther than stereo recordings if it’s deeper sound experiences we have in mind. Maybe one day, when somebody is being irritated about some 600+ bitrates, others will be irritated at some copycat bands making 00’s stereo recordings.
Well, where’s the cold war then? As stated above software developers and distributors feel less restraint on keeping filesizes down and software optimized when hardware technology is advancing rapidly. In fact, the “soft” side will eat away quite a bit of technology advancements made on the hard side. If thinking of market conspiracies this certainly is soil where such seeds could be placed. So cold war? If you’re a stressed hardware engineer you might be pissed of at lousy software engineering and the latter might be mad for slow development on the hard side. But it could aswell be a way to familiar relationship between those parts.
