Why is MP3 so hated

[Aaron]

What's the deal with everyone hating MP3 audio? What makes it so bad? I think it's a great format, especially for the file size I understand the quality isn't amazing, but it isn't "like hell".

dobyblue's sig:

"Putting on a headphone and listening to MP3 is like hell." --Neil Young

[The Lion King]

... I didn't even know it was hated. MP3's are great, what on Earth could you "hate" about them?

Seriously though, audio is so overrated on this forum. I don't even have a surround sound system and I don't need or want one either, unless they lower the price to make it cost less than THE ACTUAL TV. The sound on the TV is more than enough for me.

[Canada]

Crap audio plain and simple they cut the bitate there fore cut the frequency response.

There is 1 huge plus nobody can deny though you can carry around days, maybe even weeks of music is somthing that is no larger than a deck of cards.

[BStecke]

MP3's that you get from iTunes for example are horrible. 128 kbps is crap. If I'm not using Apple Lossless with my iPod I use 320 kbps mp3. With headphones and the factory stereo in the car there's no difference. In my wife's car with the upgraded stereo, there's a bit of a difference between lossless and 320kbp, but it's not huge. 128 kbps in her car are unbearable.

[Canada]

Originally Posted by The Lion King

... I didn't even know it was hated. MP3's are great, what on Earth could you "hate" about them?

Seriously though, audio is so overrated on this forum. I don't even have a surround sound system and I don't need or want one either, unless they lower the price to make it cost less than THE ACTUAL TV. The sound on the TV is more than enough for me.

Wait till you get a home theater system audio is 50% or more of the movie expeience for me.

[BStecke]

Originally Posted by The Lion King

Seriously though, audio is so overrated on this forum. I don't even have a surround sound system and I don't need or want one either, unless they lower the price to make it cost less than THE ACTUAL TV. The sound on the TV is more than enough for me.

How do you determine something is overrated when you have nothing to base that opinion on? Audio is more responsible for immersion in a movie that PQ. Good audio equipment will never cost less than TV's. There's a lot more craftsmanship involved with making audio equipment than televisions.

I'm honestly having trouble forming words in regards to this ridiculous statement . . .

[The Lion King]

Originally Posted by BStecke

How do you determine something is overrated when you have nothing to base that opinion on? Audio is more responsible for immersion in a movie that PQ. Good audio equipment will never cost less than TV's. There's a lot more craftsmanship involved with making audio equipment than televisions.

I'm honestly having trouble forming words in regards to this ridiculous statement . . .

My father has a huge surround sound system, cost him MORE than the TV itself, and while watching TV and DVDs I still preferred the sound of the TV. I'm serious. In my opinion (it's just my opinion), NO TV sound equipment should be worth MORE than a HD Television. That is ridiculous.

[Aaron]

Originally Posted by The Lion King

My father has a huge surround sound system, cost him MORE than the TV itself, and while watching TV and DVDs I still preferred the sound of the TV. I'm serious. In my opinion (it's just my opinion), NO TV sound equipment should be worth MORE than a HD Television. That is ridiculous.

Have you ever heard a set of extremely high-end speakers like Bowers & Wilkins?

[The Lion King]

Originally Posted by Aaron

Have you ever heard a set of extremely high-end speakers like Bowers & Wilkins?

No.

[BStecke]

Originally Posted by The Lion King

No.

Exactly. But, even "extremely high end" isn't necessary for a good experience.

What kind of system does your father have? And why is it ridiculous for sound equipment to cost more than a TV? Without good sound you're just staring at the TV. There is nothing that puts you in the movie. TV's nowadays are pretty cheap for what you get. Costing more than the TV is not as shocking as you seem to make it.

[jw]

You are from the new age of people who grew up with nothing but MP3. I grew up on cassette tapes, then to Compact discs and wasted money buying into a mini disc player
But I agree, I love the idea of the MP3 player and the idea of the mass amount of tunes I can put on an ipod or similiar player. I never knew there was a hatred towards the MP3 itself, maybe towards the iPod?

[darkpoet25]

Originally Posted by BStecke

And why is it ridiculous for sound equipment to cost more than a TV? Without good sound you're just staring at the TV. There is nothing that puts you in the movie. TV's nowadays are pretty cheap for what you get. Costing more than the TV is not as shocking as you seem to make it.

I agree. There is nothing better to me than hearing a lossless audio track on a movie, be it DTS-HD, PCM, or TrueHD, through my Onkyo 805 and Paradigm speakers. No tv speakers can ever come close to this, ever.

[The Lion King]

Originally Posted by BStecke

Exactly. But, even "extremely high end" isn't necessary for a good experience.

What kind of system does your father have? And why is it ridiculous for sound equipment to cost more than a TV? TV's are cheap.

Because video is more important than sound in my opinion. I'm sure there's a lot of people here who'd rather listen to audio than watch something with no sound, but not me. Since I don't care very much about sound, a TV is perfect; delivers perfect and satisfying video and sound for me. Sorry but I just find it a bit amazing that people go to huge lengths and pay often more money on sound equipment than on a TV. I would happily buy sound equipment because it really does enhance the viewing, but I wouldn't ever pay more than $700 for a decent sound system. My $700...I mean two cents.

[Leopold BUTTERS]

CDs for the win! I love cds. I hate mp3 players bleh they sound terrible in my car.

[BStecke]

Originally Posted by Leopold BUTTERS

CDs for the win! I love cds. I hate mp3 players bleh they sound terrible in my car.

What type of connection do you use?

[Canada]

My receiver cost more than my TV, mind you I bought my HDTV as a clear out floor model payed about $ 700-800 for it. I payed a I think about $ 1200 for my HDMI 1.3 receiver (had not even been out 2 months). I have Sony speakers. I want to upgrade badly but don't have a full time job.


Totem Dreamcatcher system will put a serious dent in your bank account with a Canadian suggested retail price of $ 2295 dollars for the whole set but from what I hear there great.

[Leopold BUTTERS]

Originally Posted by BStecke

What type of connection do you use?

You mean how do i get my mp3s to my cd player? just an aux cord...i am not very good with audio..but i do have a good speaker system in my car with a sweet cd player. and i looove cds so much, not burnt cds though. I buy all my cds from the store. Iron Maiden= Best band ever! less than a month to see them live

[Chevypower]

When we first got our iPod, i ripped all our CDs (about 100 or so of them) using mp3 320kbs. It only took up 1/10th of the iPod's hard drive, so I looked in to what I should have done. WAV 44,100khz? Apple Lossless? AAC? MPEG4? MP3? I had no idea what to do as I didnt want to start ripping all in WAV and run out of space before I finished. Anyway, it turned out Apple Lossless was the way to go, as it was half the size of WAV 44,100KHz, but sound quality was no different. I have done most of our CDs, but have run out of computer Hard Drive space (not iPod hard drive space), I will complete the job when I have my new Macbook Pro, and I can't get some of my video files off my external hard drive. But soon, all of them will be in Apple Lossless, and it sounds brilliant! Then I just need a Numark iDJ2! If I had an iPod Nano, I wouldn't use Apple Lossless. Only do it with a iPod Classic 80GB or higher if you have a lot of CDs. Otherwise maybe a high bit rate MP4

[Canada]

Originally Posted by darkpoet25

I agree. There is nothing better to me than hearing a lossless audio track on a movie, be it DTS-HD, PCM, or TrueHD, through my Onkyo 805 and Paradigm speakers. No tv speakers can ever come close to this, ever.

Hell, I listned to movies though my Panasonic book shelf system (stereo) for years only getting Dolby Digital and it sounded about a million times better than out of the tv speakers.

One analogy I always use is you would never use a TV that was built into your speakers for a video display would you? So why in the hell do people listen to the audio through TV speakers.

[BStecke]

Originally Posted by Leopold BUTTERS

You mean how do i get my mp3s to my cd player? just an aux cord...i am not very good with audio..but i do have a good speaker system in my car with a sweet cd player. and i looove cds so much, not burnt cds though. I buy all my cds from the store. Iron Maiden= Best band ever! less than a month to see them live

Yeah, the aux cords suck because you have to jockey around the volume on both the deck and the iPod to get it to where you're not getting distortion. That's the main reason i got an iPod over another brand of mp3 player, because aftermarket radio support is all for iPod. The connectors you can get to hook the radio up to the iPod via its dock connector gives you much better sound quality (CD quality if the stuff on your iPod is CD quality). I never carry the iPod around with me, but I can't live without it in the car. One of the things I wonder how I ever did without.