MP3 Compression

MP3 achieves its compression by removing the signals people can't hear. Odd, isn't it, that we can't hear about 90 percent of a CD's audio. Why didn't the Japanese think of this when they designed the compact disk format in the first place? Audiophiles, of course, disagree, maintaining that removing signal removes "presence" and "ambiance" essential to the accurate reproduction of the original sound. Even when you can't hear it, they say, you will miss it. That's why they're audiophiles, so they can worry about stuff like that. But then, true audiophiles won't have much truck with digital sound, anyway, and pure audiophiles wouldn't be caught dead listening to anything, analog or otherwise, on a solid state sound system; if it does not use vacuum tubes, it doesn't measure up, according to audiophiles.

My opinions, on the other hand, hold even less value; my hearing is shot from years of flying little airplanes and playing in loud jazz bands without the benefit of earplugs. The same people who waited too long to tell us about the dangers of smoking, asbestos, and insecticides failed as well to mention what loud noises do to our eardrums. As a result I can't tell the difference between CD-quality sound and the so-called "near CD" quality of an MP3 performance encoded at 96 kbps. Actually, I do hear some kind of difference, but one doesn't sound any better than the other. It's like a preference for a particular kind of beer -- most brew connoisseurs couldn't pass a blindfold test either.