You cannot talk about music and computers without mentioning the MP3 format. It made large digital audio files small enough to be easily passed around an Internet that was largely accessed via a slow (by today’s standards) phone dial-up connection, allowing music to be shared by thousands at once and changing the way it was distributed, played and listened to. It also changed the relationship between a piece of music and its ownership, giving musicians an incentive to put their work online rather than hold on to it or sell it exclusively to a single music distributor.
The first commercial mp3 music tracks players were released in 1998 and by 2000 the format was dominant. MP3 is capable of reducing an audio track’s file size by up to a twelfth, making it easier and cheaper to store, share and play. MP3s are able to do this by subjecting the data in a track to a process of compression. This type of compression is often referred to as lossy, as the compression takes away information from the original track that can never be returned.
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In an MP3 file, low-level information during high-amplitude passages is removed using a process called audio masking. This reduces the file size by removing frequencies that are buried under other information. The result is a reduction in overall sound quality, but it can often be undetectable to the average listener, as there is often enough other information to mask the loss.
It is important to note that different encoders produce different results, so there are differences in subjective sound quality between MP3 files. Some audio enthusiasts claim that most MP3s can’t compare to a CD or vinyl album version of the same song.
Several studies have shown that MP3s can be made to sound better by choosing an encoder with a higher quality setting and by adjusting the bit rate. Some researchers are also working on lossless audio formats, which can compress an audio file without sacrificing its quality.
In the meantime, you can download free tools to help with converting and improving the sound of your MP3 files. A popular program is LAME, which you can use to generate a high-quality encoder for your mp3 music tracks. A good starting point is to set the encoder to a high quality setting and experiment with the other settings until you get a result that sounds pleasing to your ears. Be sure to backup any MP3 music tracks you convert on a separate data CD or hard drive, so you can easily restore them if necessary.