I realize that I had to add another post detailing the 'Other Features' that define what a good audio player should be.
But I won't.
I will start on a new note and this time, let's talk about something more interesting shall we?
Since this blog is about audio, then let's talk about music.
Music is what defines life. Music is a part and parcel of everyone's life whether they like it or not. In fact, it is integral to people. After all, everyone who goes to weddings hears the 'Wedding March', yes? If you enjoy watching soccer, I'm sure you have heard that grandiose Champions League Anthem being sung before European matches that titillates the senses.
Hopefully we are in agreement that "Music makes the people come together", as Madonna has gushed.
As such, why is it that we can accept anything less than good quality music to support a great song? Isn't that the minimal that we should ask for? Many turn a blind eye to this seemingly inconsequential detail. Let's face it - would you care if you have a 128 kbps version of 'Sexy Chick' or one that runs on 320 kbps? For iTunes users who are looking at inexpensive accessible songs, then probably not. For users who have 256MB flash music players, the answer is a yes but that is because they need to squeeze more songs of a smaller file size into their player.
However, we are entering a time when music players are getting bigger in capacity all the time. We will also most certainly enter a time when music player capacity will no longer even matter. The huge-ass 64GB iPod touch exists and so does the 160GB classic version.
Soooo, why don't we make better use of that additional space that music players have and at the same time, give our ears something better to listen to?
If you have CDs, rip them at a higher bit rate of (let's say) 320 kbps. If you have loads of space on your player, why not rip them in the best quality that is equal to CD audio ie. the lossless format (Click here for the different formats available)?
If you want to download tracks, you can try DRM-free iTunes tracks that run at 256 kbps. They are a little better than the cheaper 128 kbps tracks provided on the iTunes Musicstore but nonetheless, let's hope that some bright spark starts providing higher quality music to the masses.
Try it today. Re-rip your entire music collection in Apple Lossless (ALAC) or FLAC format and reexperience your music, if you haven't already done so ;P
