[HANASHIR:3401] RE: MP3

[Adrian Durlester <durleste...>]

Judy:

Some pundits say that MP3 is the wave of the future. Noted experts like John
Dvorak and Jim Seymour have said that MP3 will finally give the recording
industry its comeuppance - and they feel it has engaged in serious ripping
off of the public for years by overpricing CDs, etc.

What MP3 is is a technology that allows one to create compressed (in size)
digital music files from existing .wav music files. It has a much smaller
file size (say 3-5 MB for a typical full length song) but it achieves this
by use of psycho-acoustics. In other words, it eliminates parts of the data
based on what science knows about human hearing, and it's ability to detect
sounds above and below certain frequencies, how certain sound combinations
are perceived, etc. They have said that only the most discriminating ear can
tell.

>From my own experience, I can tell you that I can tell. MP3 lacks a certain
depth. In addition, there are other technologies poised to supplant MP3.

However-MP3 represents the beginning of delivery on demand of music, and
gives the consumer great power. Imagine being able to download only the
songs you want. Imagine getting them instantly over the net.
No longer will artists be beholden to the big music companies-distribution
will be simple and effective.

But then again, it opens the door extremely wide to piracy, and it also
removes a certain amount of artistic control. (I would think many artists
would prefer people to get their whole album and not just the pieces the
consumed liked. That kind of consumer-driven market could be very dangerous
in the arts and lead to a field only driven by commercial success and not
artistic quality.

Companies that make MP3 players and ripper/encoders (the programs that
create MP3 files) are careful to warn people to not make illegal (pirated)
copies. Nevertheless, most of the MP3 material currently available on the
web is bootleg and pirated. That's unfair to the artists. (I have less
sympathy for the record companies.) The record industry has publicly and
privately fought MP3 and has had some success, but in the end will likely be
overwhelmed.The recently announced agreement is a blueprint for allowing
some sort of fairness to consumer, artist and record company alike in MP3
distribution.

As to the altruism of giving music away: well, Judy, I would hope that in
the Jewish music business, there was some of that altruism! But at the same
time, as we have always said on this list, we support and encourage those
who seek to earn the meager financial recompense that is available as a
Jewish performer/artist.

Some Jewish music industry pundits (I imagine you can figure out who some of
those are) tell me the Jewish music industry isn't quite ready for MP3, but
that when the time comes, those who distribute Jewish music will already be
ready with electronic distribution technology.

To be honest, I have mulled over for the past few months trying to put
together a small consortium of independent Jewish artists and attempting to
establish a prototype MP3 distribution project. My interest in this is not
competition with the established distributors, for I have no doubt they will
quickly outstrip me once they are ready to start electronic distribution,
but simply to demonstrate that the Jewish market is ready for it.

Maybe those on this list can give us some idea how ready the artists and
consumers are.

Adrian



-----Original Message-----
From: owner-hanashir (at) shamash(dot)org [mailto:owner-hanashir (at) 
shamash(dot)org]On
Behalf Of Judy Git
Sent: Monday, July 05, 1999 11:14 AM
To: hanashir (at) shamash(dot)org
Subject: [HANASHIR:3400]
MP3------------------------------------------------------------------------
Adrian A. Durlester  -  durleste (at) home(dot)com
http://members.home.net/durleste/
Student, Vanderbilt University Divinity School
http://divinity.lib.vanderbilt.edu/vds/vds-home.htm
Music Director, Congregation Micah, Nashville, TN
http://www.micahnash.org/
Home phone (615) 646-9788
Nextel cel-phone (615) 207-2661
You can page me from http://www.nextel.com
List-Owner for hanashir (at) shamash(dot)org; Co-Owner for L-Torah (at) 
shamash(dot)org
http://uahc.org/hanashir
Editor, Bim Bam (for Torah Aura Productions)
http://www.torahaura.com/
Alternate Email: aad (at) iname(dot)com  adriand (at) aol(dot)com




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