Well I decided to bring up a highly debated topic. :D Does anyone think that realistically MP3 is going to be THE format? From what I have seen from talking with others and my observation, it does seem that MP3 is heading in that direction. Even DJs at clubs are now starting to bring their laptop to shows and are using digital audio for their "turntablism" via software programs as opposed to vinyl or even CD.
My thoughts on MP3 is that it is convenient and "easy". Why buy a Music CD these days when that CD goes towards profitting the record company and not the artist? In most cases, the artist barely sees anything from those CD sales due to the fact that they get a low cut from the sales to begin with and they have to recoup what they borrowed from the label to make the album. Artists get most of their money from touring and selling merchandise as far as I know.
I have developed a CD collection over the years but in the past 2 years maybe, though maybe less than that, I have stopped buying audio CDs. I want to support the artists I like but I don't want my money pratically going fully towards Warner Brothers or Universal instead of the artist. I *try* not to support those huge conglamorate companies when I can but often it is impossible to do so. It is like they encompass everything. I refuse to use the iTunes music store because paying 99 cents for just digital audio without a booklet and casing is just a rip-off. Besides most of that money goes to the record company and Apple... same deal as buying it from a regular store.
As an alternative I have downloaded pratically all of my music or borrowed CDs from friends, ripped them and returned. When I rip CDs that I own or borrow I usually use FLAC as it is a lossless audio format as opposed to MP3. It's of larger format but I have a fast connection/big HD so it doesn't matter. Though when I download I will often settle for 192kbps MP3 or whatever is the best available if they don't have a lossless audio version available on the net. If they have OGG Vorbis available too, I will download that instead of MP3. OGG and FLAC also have an advantage to MP3 in that they are freeware formats. MP3 on the other hand was invented by some german guy and royalties go to him.
Despite MP3 having less fidelity than CD audio, it does seem to sound good enough to me. The human ear generally can't hear above 20 khz anyway. Personally it *seems* to myself that CD Audio or lossless audio formats sounds better but this may be due to the placebo effect. MP3 at the very least is good enough for portability anyway. I've been told by audiophiles that the reason they still buy CDs is because MP3 is a lossy format but it's not like it really makes the difference.
If we want to get really anal we would say that CD isn't as good as Vinyl but only the most hardcore of audiophiles and some DJs still use it. The CD has replaced Vinyl because of its convenience and because the extra fidelity in Vinyl can barely be told apart from CD. The only real difference is the subjective "warmth" you get from listening to Vinyl. However Vinyl can go through wear and tear whereas its a lot tougher to wear out a CD. Thus like the Vinyl and CD example... I use FLAC/OGG/MP3 instead of CD because it is even more convenient and the risk of wear and tear is obsolete.
So what are your thoughts on this? Do you think that audio compression formats as opposed to CDs (or even SACD/DVD-Audio when it becomes popular) are going to be king? I've already seen it become preferable among many people. Or do you think that tangibles like CD or SACD/DVD-Audio are here to stay? Or do you feel that even after the releases of SACD/DVD-Audio, Vinyl is still the best?
8 Tracks! They're making a comeback!
But really now, its nearly impossible to say with any level of certainity what will be the future of music in reguards to replay. We've had CDs/Cassette Tapes/8 Tracks/Records of varying sizes/and whatever was before records. Doubtless each time one of those was created, it was dubbed "Music of the Future." By those in that generation/time. So, while I do think that as far as simple audio playback goes, MP3 and such formats are the highest level that we've retained (as far as clairity, portablitiy, ease of use) and the like go, doubtless we'll see somthing new pop up within the next 20 or so years.