Posted by Eeyore on 11/28/07 09:21

Kevin McMurtrie wrote:

> 128Kbps is highly lossy with today's technology.

'Today's technology' has eff all to do with it.

ALL audio compression schemes rely on 'throwing away' information to get the
desired result. Advances in 'technology' will not ever affect that fundamental
principle.

Provided that all compression schemes were *coded competently*, the trade-off in
perceived audio performance vs bit rate would be virtually identical. And it is
indeed quite close to that. Some methods of perceptual encoding may favour
perceived better results with certain styles of music than others at the usual
cost of performing worse with other types.

Mark my words, audio compression will be almost non-existent in 10 years time.
The genuine advances in technology that DO exist in respect of ever higher
network speeds and ever lower cost mass storage will render audio compression
almost superfluous.

Graham

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