The term MP3 software can be somewhat misleading because the majority of said software supports far more than the ubiquitous MP3 format that’s the widely supported choice for downloadable audio files. Most audio software easily supports, manages and transforms the format, making it a clear choice when you want to make sure the file will play on virtually anyone’s system.
On occasion, especially for organizations such as music labels, MP3 does not provide the greatest listening experience. MP3 is considered a “lossy” format, meaning that when MP3 files are created, bits of data – especially towards the high and low ends of the audio spectrum – disappear in the transaction.
Some users don’t care about losing small pieces of data in exchange for the ability to play the file whenever and wherever they want. When more critical listeners compare audio files in a CD format (commonly .CDA) with MP3 audio files, they’ll notice subtle, yet annoying differences in sound quality, even when the specifications on the MP3 file are maximized to produce the highest-quality sound possible (e.g. 320kb/s at a relatively high, variable bit rate).
That’s where more obscure formats come into play. If you research audio formats to find a list that compiles all formats currently in use, you’ll be amazed by how many you’ve never heard of, let alone actually heard.
A huge percentage of the population does not mind lower-quality sound, which is entirely understandable. Some people’s ears cannot pick up extremely high or low frequencies, and thus a traditional MP3 sounds perfectly acceptable. They don’t want to hear about more obscure formats that produce better listening experiences, because those listening experiences depend on critical ears, some of which aren’t critical at all.
If you research pop songs, you’ll see that most of the songs' elements fall in the middle of the kilohertz spectrum, the place where the majority of listeners can easily recognize and differentiate sounds. Many pieces of MP3 software such as MediaMonkey or Winamp offer equalizers with presets, from Rock to R&B to Pop. If you choose Pop, you’ll witness the bars in the middle go up, while bars toward the left and right go down.
The bars at the far end decline the farthest because the sound engineers of Pop songs made sure to keep most of the sound within the average listener’s range; bars at the far end simply don’t matter because they weren’t considered important to the people producing the songs, let alone people listening to the songs.
As an experiment, I converted “About Today” by The National to a WAV file instead of MP3. The resulting file was 47MB and 1,411kb/s, according to iTunes. The extensive amount of sound information within that file was immediately apparent. Everything was crisper, clearer and closer to what I’m sure the band intended.
If you’re not very satisfied with the current listening experience of your MP3s, pretty much all MP3 software applications such as Jet Audio also support formats that offer a much richer sound.
By Nathan Spicer
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