MP3s vs CDR: Why MP3s are a lot better than you think.

There are a number of common misconceptions about MP3 files.

1. MP3 files are not illegal. MP3 is a music storage format, to be considered like "wave" or "cassette" or "CD". Some MP3 files contain illegally copied music. But then again, so do some cassette tapes and CDRs. Just because the format can be used for music piracy doesn't mean it can't be used for good purposes as well.

2. MP3 files are not exactly the same quality as CDR. MP3 is a lossy compression format - as such, no matter what bitrate you encode your waves at, you won't get something that's exactly the same quality as the CDR. Some people can hear the difference. When it comes to bootlegs, which are not recorded the same as highly engineered studio releases, it doesn't matter though.

Put simply, the convienience outweighs the problems.

There's no doubt about it. To copy 5 double-CD shows and send them as a trade to someone in the UK would likely cost me $20NZ in postage, and take a week to arrive. If the transfer was done electronically with MP3, it could happen over a day or two. They can be written to CD at the other end if the user wants.

Be careful when trading entire shows as MP3 however. A CD, ripped to individual track MP3s, can not be recreated to the exact CD. This problem is caused due to the fact when you encode a track, it encodes to a certain number of "frames", which can introduce small silences into the track, which won't match up exactly, no matter how hard you try. (Even when burning Disc-At-Once.) And it gets really annoying when you listen to them.

For a workaround, see the Recording Tips page for information about how to rip an entire CD in a manner that can be re-recorded on CDR.

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