From: Ralph Smeets <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Tuesday, January 25, 2000 9:40 AM
Subject: Re: MD: MP3 -- Am I the only one that hates it so?
> 1) You're not allone. I hate MP3 too!
Why hate it? Let's be reasonable here, it's a good method of transferring
music around the world, it has a lot of untapped potential which largely
goes un-noticed because of bad side to it that gets the most media
attention. Just because people use it for illegal purposes doesn't mean it
is a bad thing, it means the people using it are bad - hate them instead!
You get people using cars for ram-raids but do you blame the car? Of course
not! You get people using MP3 to pirate music over the internet, should you
blame MP3? No!
> 2) It's maybee for free in the USA, in Europe you have to pay at least
> the
> phone-bill. (And downloading takes ages).
So a 5 minute song is 5 minutes and takes 30 minutes to download on the
average 56k modem. In the UK that would cost you about 30p, only a few pence
more than it costs to post a letter! It's not really the cost that is a big
issue, it's that unfortunately most of Europe is still stuck with old
technology that involves a lot of waiting around for things to download.
> 3) MP3s are for free on the 'underground' and 'illegal' sites. And they
> are
> constantly changing their URL since they're often kicked of the
> server from
> the providers.. So before finding the right song, you have to surf
> for an
> hour to find it....
No, that's only the illegal sites. MP3.COM for example, use it to promote
new bands, and many music sites such as CD-NOW have started using it
alongside RealAudio to provide music clips. Musicians are using it to
exchange ideas, recording in low-rate MP3 and sending via EMail to other
musicians working on the same project. Some are using it as internet radio,
and it works quite well if used with a database system to store sounds (the
new version of Encarta apparently uses MP3 as the audio storage format as it
allows more to be packed onto the disc). If you look at who is using it, and
what they are using it for, you will find one common connection though, and
that is they are all using computers. You wont find people recording out in
the field with MP3 (not even laptop PCs and MP3 encoders) and not everyone
wants their PC as their main music system, although some people may find it
useful.
> 4) The easy access sites are mostly commercial. So you have to pay a
> price for
> the song.
Well if they ever start dishing out CDs and MDs for free let me know where!!
Until that happens then yes, if you want something, you will have to pay for
it (unless you want an illegal copy of course - SCMS killer anybody?).
MP3 is a good format, and it has a lot of practical uses, but like any
freely available technology it is open to abuse. What seems evident from
this topic, is that a large number of MD users seem to be very territorial,
and hate MP3 simply because it dared to step into the same area as MD. MD
has one very distinct advantage over MP3 though: If you want to use MD you
*only* need the MD recorder. If you want to use MP3 players, which are the
so-called competition, you need a computer and suitable software. MD is very
much a stand alone audio solution, whereas MP3 players are just toys for
computer buffs. The danger comes from if they make MP3 recorders as
stand-alone units requiring no extra hardware.
Magic
--
"Creativity is more a birthright than an acquisition, and the power of sound
is wisdom and understanding applied to the power of vibration."
Location : Portsmouth, England, UK
Homepage : http://www.mattnet.freeserve.co.uk
EMail : [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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