Here's a question I'd like to open to the world at large. Why are so may retailers selling digital music that has been encoded using lossy formats at inferior bitrates? I have a few theories, and a couple of them may even be true.
My first theory has to do with convenience, which is What Customers Want. Perhaps they value convenience over quality. The high-quality lossless formats like FLAC or, heaven help us, Apple Lossless (ALAC) or WAV make files that are simply too large. MP3 and the like are quicker to download. But if this is true, why hasn't the spread of high-capacity broadband made the lossless formats more attractive? Or maybe it has, and it's time for a change.
The second explanation is about compatibility and storage capacity. Audio device manufacturers only support certain formats. I think it's safe to say that most devices on the market today support MP3, which is the de facto standard. And since MP3s don't take up much space, the audio device manufacturers don't need to make devices with a lot of storage. However, if this is the case, why haven't more manufacturers opted for Ogg support, since Ogg files sound better and are smaller at the same bitrate? And as storage decreases in price, will there be more interest in promoting lossless formats.
And what about Apple promoting its own proprietary formats? Why does ALAC exist when FLAC does the job better?
My last theory involves planned obsolescence. What if retailers are offering products in a low quality because they know it means that they can sell it to you again when the devices improve to the point that it becomes apparent to most consumers that the sound quality of their MP3s is horrible.
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