MP3 posting (was: music)

["Stephen Goodman" <sgoodman@earthlight.net>]

I have to agree on the size of our files at least.  I'm sure we all have 
our
short pieces from :02 to 1:15 or so, but they don't constitute the majority
of our work, such that posting the short ones wouldn't do justice to the
long pieces... My version of The Star Spangled Banner is in the 
neighborhood
of 7 minutes, and is nearly as many MB to listen/download, thus prohibitive
to most folks as we know.

The downloading and use of MP3s is brought to our attention a good deal by
the established music biz, via the "news" media, as if legions of people 
are
buying Rios and other units to play the songs posted online.  Think of this
perhaps, that the so-called "threat" of MP3 posting might be just a hook of
understanding for many music biz oldsters, upon which they hang the blame
for less-than-super sales of an increasingly mediocre Product.  This has
happened with other technologies and the established Entertainment Biz
before: remember the Beta and ultimately VHS Wars?  Or perhaps the Biz'
attempts to keep DAT from US consumers in the 80s?

Perhaps MP3 is a way to snub the old, corrupt methods of selling music.
Perhaps it's a subterfuge designed to distract these legions of potential
thieves and pirates (us, that is) from really being able to compete with 
the
established Biz.  Perhaps it's just another file format that the Biz has
gotten upset about, and not an issue in reality.

I have to admit I like MP3 right now as it develops, but I wouldn't rely
upon it for music posting because of the sheer size.  I imagine better
compression will be available in the future, and I wait for a chance to 
stop
using Real altogether for my music posting.  In the meantime I'm
experimenting with On-Demand Producer to produce ASF files that compete 
with
the RMs on basis of compression and sound quality, as well as video
processing.  All one needs is the already-present Media Player to see this
stuff, which is available and free - and doesn't include come-ons or hidden
installations for someone's Messaging Service in its upgrades.

> >I don't know about the rest of you, but my music tends to be anywhere
> >from 10 to 20 minutes per piece, and often has accompanying video.  This
> >means large, slow to download files.

L Tremblay <ltct@concentric.net> put forth:

> Not a bad idea but only folks with killer computers and a
> megabit connection to the Web would be able to enjoy such a
> high-bandwidth site.

It remains to be seen just how many people actually have a higher-than-56k
access to Das Infobahn - and having a 350MHz, 128MB K6-2 doesn't help, if
the pipeline is still so small.  This relegates the MP3 material we produce
to a limited market, potentially, and one we know relatively nothing about,
beyond the shrill announcements from the music biz.

Then again, Comdex (or as they call it this year, ".COMdex") is with us
again.  What outlandish stuff awaits those who go?  Is anyone from this 
list
going?  If so, please give us a report of what you see in the above regard!

Stephen Goodman       * It's the free Loop Of The Week!
EarthLight Productions * http://www.earthlight.net/Studios.html
*
(Hear NEW music 11/1 here!)