And another thought came to mind about what the point could be in the actions of the 20kbps rec label, which puts out all its releases in the ultra-low quality of 20 kilobits. Such low quality theoretically forces the mp3 encoder to leave only the parts in the music that are most essential for reconstructing the music, meaning the backbone. Another question is by what algorithm it does this. The algorithm might have no direct connection to a human understanding of "essential". In other words, we are relying on a program's artistic taste to identify the important moments. Yet another Glory to the Robots?
As a person who understands how the mp3 algorithm functions, I'll just say that the algorithm might indeed extract the essentials, but at the same time it heavily smooths and coarsens them. It ends up looking nothing like itself, and it can no longer be used. Meaning, it is present in the complex, but when we try to simplify it—it falls apart.
So it's unlikely that 20kbps's actions will lead to success.
About the 20kbps rec. label
2006-11-12