Why do we still use MP3s and other lossy formats?

[88keys]

Granted, they were cool 15 years ago, but given current storage and bandwidth capabilities I see absolutely no reason to even mess around with MP3s anymore. It's just easier to rip or download in FLAC and be done with it and not have to rip it again.

Not to mention they sound better.

 

[MongGrel]

I do for many things, but prepare to get attacked I imagine.

You'll get more flack over FLAC's than the grammar Nazi's I suppose.

Next up, Monster Cables

 

[JoeBleed]

I still use them because that's the only format i want to use that my old ipod classic supports. I was going to switch to using my android phone until the last update that rendered the player controls on the lock screen a no show. I want to move to FLAC or OOG or something. but until i can move away from my old ipod, i'm sticking with mp3 at constant bit rate of 192.

I kind of dread the day i'll need to re-rip my cds, but i'll do it eventually.

 

[Atomic Playboy]

Why do people stream Netflix HD when Blu-rays are clearly superior? Why do people drink Bud Light when craft beer is constantly increasing in availability? Why eat at McDonalds when you could just suck on a dead squirrel? For most people, once something hits the point of "good enough," they don't care about minor increases in quality. Americans hit that with mp3. The vast majority of the market doesn't care about incremental increases in sound quality that most don't even have the equipment to hear.

 

[GagHalfrunt]

Granted, they were cool 15 years ago, but given current storage and bandwidth capabilities I see absolutely no reason to even mess around with MP3s anymore. It's just easier to rip or download in FLAC and be done with it and not have to rip it again.

Not to mention they sound better.

Half right anyway.

Yep, storage and bandwidth make mp3 a hell of a lot less necessary than it was 15 years ago.

But no, FLAC doesn't really sound better. Almost nobody can differentiate between FLAC and 320kbps mp3 in true blind ABX testing. Even the self-proclaimed audiophiles who claim they have golden ears fail miserably. My hearing is incapable of telling a quality 256kpbs from a FLAC, so I use 256k mp3.

 

[Strk]

I'll give you 3 reasons:

Because most people probably can't tell the different between a decent bitrate mp3 and a FLAC file.

Because despite being one of the cheapest components in a phone/device, storage space is still offered very sparingly and/or they are not including microSDs.

Because carriers suck and keep charging more for less bandwidth.

 

[mikeymikec]

It's a standard that's been around for a long time, is in widespread use (how many digital music players don't support MP3?), and it's good enough as far as most people are concerned.

I don't have many albums in FLAC format, but the one that is most likely to have 'average length' tracks in it has file sizes that are probably quadruple the size of the average MP3 I've ripped on higher-than-average-mp3 quality.

I played around with bitrate/VBR settings with mp3 quite a few years ago, and with the settings I ended up picking, I couldn't tell the difference between that and the CD audio I ripped the mp3s from. If I thought about committing the time to re-rip all of my albums in another format, I would want to be able to hear a difference in quality first.

Furthermore, when mobile, most people are listening to music on their phones, which don't yet have (on average) "more space than they'll ever need", so I think the OP's question is about a decade "too soon" to ask, if at all. My PC's music folder has more in it than I can store on my 16GB Nexus 5, and it would be way more if it was all in FLAC format.

How it is easier to rip to FLAC than MP3? I know I don't use a popular method, but I basically open CDex, pick a command from a menu and the job starts with my usual settings. I'm sure I could reduce the number of clicks involved from two to one, but is this really a point you're going to argue?

 

[lxskllr]

I use Q8(~256k) vorbis. Sounds great, and about half the size of flac. I can reencode without noticeable loss on my gear, and it's not unreasonable to load it directly on my phone/music player, unlike flac.

 

[mikeymikec]

Why eat at McDonalds when you could just suck on a dead squirrel?

Are you saying you've taken the McD vs. dead squirrel challenge? Did you cook the squirrel first?

 

[Brainonska511]

I still use them because that's the only format i want to use that my old ipod classic supports. I was going to switch to using my android phone until the last update that rendered the player controls on the lock screen a no show. I want to move to FLAC or OOG or something. but until i can move away from my old ipod, i'm sticking with mp3 at constant bit rate of 192. I kind of dread the day i'll need to re-rip my cds, but i'll do it eventually.

What crappy version of Android are you using? The player controls have been on the lock screen of my Nexus 4 for as long as I've used it (from v4.x through v5.1.1).

To the OP's original question: lossless formats take up significantly more space than lossy formats. On a computer, with large hard drives being the norm, it's no big deal. However, a major device people use to listen to music tends to be space-limited. On top of it all, it's not always obvious which programs can be used to transcode music on-the-fly when going from computer to mobile device. Overall, it's likely the majority of people are a mix of a) people that don't know about lossless formats, b) people that don't care about lossless formats, and c) people that don't want to deal with the hassle of transcoding for mobile use.

 

[88keys]

Half right anyway.

Yep, storage and bandwidth make mp3 a hell of a lot less necessary than it was 15 years ago.

But no, FLAC doesn't really sound better. Almost nobody can differentiate between FLAC and 320kbps mp3 in true blind ABX testing. Even the self-proclaimed audiophiles who claim they have golden ears fail miserably. My hearing is incapable of telling a quality 256kpbs from a FLAC, so I use 256k mp3.

I've seen studies claiming that people can't tell between HDTV and SDTV too. I seriously question the validity of those studies. I've been in the process of switching my collection over to FLAC from 320kbps MP3s for a while so I have about a 50/50 mix of FLAC and 320kbps MP3s and while I can't tell the difference on every track; there are certain ones where it's much easier to hear the difference.

The difference isn't something you hear on every song or even constantly throughout a song. It only comes through at certain points. I often hear it in the drums. I'll hear that garbled MP3 sound in a cymbal crash and I'll check the file properties and sure enough. It's an MP3.
It's like the whole vinyl vs digital thing. There is a difference, but it's not the vinyl. It's the mix and that difference doesn't really apply to recent vinyl releases.

 

[ethebubbeth]

I consider my NAS a digital archive, and typically you want the highest quality source when archiving. I can always transcode to other formats. However, my DAP (Sansa Clip+) and my phone (Android) both natively support FLAC so I never feel the need to transcode.

 

[Fritzo]

320K guy myself

 

[master_shake_]

Granted, they were cool 15 years ago, but given current storage and bandwidth capabilities I see absolutely no reason to even mess around with MP3s anymore. It's just easier to rip or download in FLAC and be done with it and not have to rip it again.

Not to mention they sound better.

i bet it's because NOBODY can tell the difference.

192 vs flac no one has any idea what the difference is.

 

[GagHalfrunt]

I've seen studies claiming that people can't tell between HDTV and SDTV too. I seriously question the validity of those studies. I've been in the process of switching my collection over to FLAC from 320kbps MP3s and while I can't tell the difference on every track; there are certain ones where it's much easier to hear the difference.

The difference isn't something you hear constantly throughout a song either. It only comes through at certain points. I often hear it in the drums. I'll hear that garbled MP3 sound in a cymbal crash and I'll check the file properties and sure enough. It's an MP3.

Everyone says the same thing when they know which track is which. And about 99.99% of them fail when forced to do it blind. I'd be willing to bet a large amount of money that you'd be in the 99.99% if someone else was administering a fair, legit ABX test.

 

[NikolaeVarius]

I've seen studies claiming that people can't tell between HDTV and SDTV too. I seriously question the validity of those studies. I've been in the process of switching my collection over to FLAC from 320kbps MP3s for a while so I have about a 50/50 mix of FLAC and 320kbps MP3s and while I can't tell the difference on every track; there are certain ones where it's much easier to hear the difference.

The difference isn't something you hear on every song or even constantly throughout a song. It only comes through at certain points. I often hear it in the drums. I'll hear that garbled MP3 sound in a cymbal crash and I'll check the file properties and sure enough. It's an MP3.
It's like the whole vinyl vs digital thing. There is a difference, but it's not the vinyl. It's the mix and that difference doesn't really apply to recent vinyl releases.

Just because you THINK there is a difference doesn't mean there is.

Multiple double blind trials have shown that nobody can tell the difference.

 

[luv2liv]

Because a portable vinyl player isn't an option at this time. My best guess

 

[88keys]

Half right anyway.

Yep, storage and bandwidth make mp3 a hell of a lot less necessary than it was 15 years ago.

But no, FLAC doesn't really sound better. Almost nobody can differentiate between FLAC and 320kbps mp3 in true blind ABX testing. Even the self-proclaimed audiophiles who claim they have golden ears fail miserably. My hearing is incapable of telling a quality 256kpbs from a FLAC, so I use 256k mp3.

Everyone says the same thing when they know which track is which. And about 99.99% of them fail when forced to do it blind. I'd be willing to bet a large amount of money that you'd be in the 99.99% if someone else was administering a fair, legit ABX test.

Just because you THINK there is a difference doesn't mean there is.

Multiple double blind trials have shown that nobody can tell the difference.

Just because studies were done, doesn't mean they weren't flawed.

I never said that the difference is present 100% of the time. Only at certain points.

 

[Humpy]

I don't reckon that many people care or pay attention to storage formats anymore. It's a dead conversation except maybe to musicians, recording engineers, and old timers who still cling to the concept of "owning" music.

 

[master_shake_]

Just because studies were done, doesn't mean they weren't flawed.

I never said that the difference is present 100% of the time. Only at certain points.

how about the difference between 8 and 16 bit?

can you tell the difference?

i bet you can't

http://www.audiocheck.net/blindtests_16vs8bit.php

 

[CraKaJaX]

It's just easier to rip or download in FLAC and be done with it and not have to rip it again.

Easier in what way?

Takes longer to DL
Larger files - can't store as much (mobile, PC, etc.)
Classic iPod won't accept .flac

Also as stated, 99% of listeners can't tell the difference anyway. They are probably listening to stuff in their cars, at the gym, etc. They don't care about quality of the music other than Volume +/-

 

[nakedfrog]

Most people don't care.

I still use them because that's the only format i want to use that my old ipod classic supports. I was going to switch to using my android phone until the last update that rendered the player controls on the lock screen a no show. I want to move to FLAC or OOG or something. but until i can move away from my old ipod, i'm sticking with mp3 at constant bit rate of 192.

I kind of dread the day i'll need to re-rip my cds, but i'll do it eventually.

It may support Rockbox, I put Rockbox on my 60GB the day I got it, and it plays FLAC just fine.

I've seen studies claiming that people can't tell between HDTV and SDTV too. I seriously question the validity of those studies. I've been in the process of switching my collection over to FLAC from 320kbps MP3s for a while so I have about a 50/50 mix of FLAC and 320kbps MP3s and while I can't tell the difference on every track; there are certain ones where it's much easier to hear the difference.

The difference isn't something you hear on every song or even constantly throughout a song. It only comes through at certain points. I often hear it in the drums. I'll hear that garbled MP3 sound in a cymbal crash and I'll check the file properties and sure enough. It's an MP3.
It's like the whole vinyl vs digital thing. There is a difference, but it's not the vinyl. It's the mix and that difference doesn't really apply to recent vinyl releases.

Yeah, cymbals are usually a glaring example.

 

[JoeBleed]

What crappy version of Android are you using? The player controls have been on the lock screen of my Nexus 4 for as long as I've used it (from v4.x through v5.1.1).

v5.0.1. no updates available. it's a note 4. and before anyone decides to talk shit about using a note4, i got it for the screen size AND stylus. If it wasn't for the stylus, i'd went with something else. I've looked into rooms, but haven't seen anything i like. I might be able to fix it if i root it, but i haven't finished looking into it.

What player are you using? the few i've tried worked fine before the update to 5.x. after 5, they lost the ability to use the controls on the lock screen.

 

[Rakehellion]

how about the difference between 8 and 16 bit?

can you tell the difference?

i bet you can't

http://www.audiocheck.net/blindtests_16vs8bit.php

It's a shitty test. Only one song, a pop electronic track that's overcompressed and intended to sound like vintage 8-bit audio anyway. Great.

 

[Rakehellion]

Granted, they were cool 15 years ago, but given current storage and bandwidth capabilities I see absolutely no reason to even mess around with MP3s anymore. It's just easier to rip or download in FLAC and be done with it and not have to rip it again.

Not to mention they sound better.

Why do people still make stupid threads? It's just easier to make a good one. There's plenty of space.