John Hayward-Warburton:

>The files for the two-CD set plus several others we didn't use take up
>353MB, around one quarter the space (and network bandwidth -- we did this
>over a slow Ethernet in the house) of the original uncompressed disk
>tracks.

This was the concern I had about fidelity--to get good fidelity, one
apparently needs huge storage space.  This is of course much more of a
problem with CM than 3-minute-per song pop music.  But disks are getting
bigger and cheaper all the time.

>So, MP3 can be a useful tool.  But I don't think purchases of MP3 files
>will replace DVD or CD sales because the practice of music-carrier
>ownership and all that goes with it (printed booklets, nice cover pictures,
>use it in the car or the kitchen, etc.) is hard to shift.  And computers
>are (generally) so noisy!  At least the average CD player doesn't have a
>whirring great cooling fan inside.

Mine is not particularly noisy, and it shares my tiny office space with my
main stereo set-up, so whatever noise it produces attacks my CDs, too.

>Furthermore, if you download an MP3 file but your disk crashes, you lose
>the music.

Not if you back up faithfully. (So you need a good tape back-up system as
well as the huge hard disk.)

As against these disadvantages, there is the great advantage (for the
consumer) of getting recordings directly (assuming you have a fast Internet
connection, which is also becoming more widespread), wherever you are in
the world, without having to put up with the capricious issuing and
re-issuing policies of the record companies, about which there is much
grumbling on this list.

These companies are already feeling the heat in the pop field; it's
beginning to look as though their days are numbered, unless they can figure
out how to coexist with the Internet.

Jon Johanning // [log in to unmask]