Young people prefer the sound of highly compressed MP3s to uncompressed audio, study shows.
So what? Americans (and everyone else) put salt, sugar, and monosodium glutamate in everything. Nobody has died yet. Those who care simply listen on decent equipment and eat decent food.
I’m also perfectly fine with compressed sound—what can you do, I’m used to it. And I have nothing against MP3s, as long as they’re encoded well.
For those who have no idea—dynamic range compression means reducing the difference between the loudest and quietest sounds, so the sound always stays around the volume at which you’re listening to the music. Which means there’s no way to make you jump out of your chair at an unexpected roar.
Here, for example, is a track from a relatively recent album by Peter Gabriel, who has always been meticulous about such matters.
Turn it up and enjoy.
Listen to Peter Gabriel – Darkness (13 MB)
Download MP3