Disqus
As of Apple’s announcement the other day that choonz were going to be coming unshackled of DRM (not sure if that applies to stuff you already downloaded though…..), there was also an announcement that the “plus” quality was going to be 256kbps AAC (you can read James’ post on this here).
Amazon already offers it’s MP3s in 256kbps bitrate, and so the playing field is now quite open as regards better quality files being out there. Having worked in Mobile sound engineering, I always found 192kbps MP3 to be acceptable, and the original Apple format of 128kbps AAC to be OK in most cases.
The availability therefore of a 256kbps-encoded AAC file should be an excellent (and superior) listening experience – maybe even enough to justify some audiophile headphones for your iPod/iPhone. For those that don’t want to use iTunes, then Amazon’s 256kbps quality MP3s should be substantial enough too.
It’s nice to finally see, at any rate, that there is an acknowledgement of bitrate (and to some extent codec) being so important in the quality of music. The same is true for video in fact, but even more so – the choice of the right codec, and sufficient bitrate, can make or break the viewing experience of a movie – particularly in the case of HD.
So I think audio has been sorted – come on online media vendors, lets get the same now applied to video – give us the best quality you can offer up for our devices – actually, give us a couple of choices based around quality vs filesize, and let us decide!
About The Author
Ben Robinson
Ben is a 10+ year veteran of the Mobile industry – starting his career when SMS was a still a relatively new concept for most people (!), he has now consulted on everything from bleeding-edge Mobile content, to the next-gen accessories you might view it on. As a result he has a broad and deep knowledge in numerous areas of Mobile – from network operators to device vendors, to infrastructure and middleware vendors (not to mention content delivery) – and has worked for companies in all of these areas! He is based in the UK, a hotbed of activity for mobile, and recently became a father for the second time – as oppose to in his younger years when he was happy spend time tweaking all manner of mobile devices to 'nth' degree, he now looks for services and hardware that provide the most efficient, compact, and reliable improvements to his already manic life! It’s his opinion that Mobile solutions should be there to help to make your life better – if a particular solution (be it service or device) isn’t doing this, he believes you need to ask the very important question of why you continue to use it... His focus at IntoMobile is mainly on Mobile content, services, and infrastructure, particularly as regards the UK market – and with the occasional look at devices. Additionally, using his extensive experience in the industry, he will provide commentary on the industry at large, with regular (and hopefully thought-provoking) articles.
