MP3s

[death metal black metal]

Mp3's cause cancer and make your sperm taste awful. So it's the default format below.
- http://demilich.mindnet.net/

[Cynical]

Oggs are definitely superior, but it seems that most people can't play them, because they don't know about media players that don't come with Windows.

[NecronomiconMortis]

Oggs are definitely superior.

APE files is still better for burn audio CDs

http://www.metalmadness.org/phpBB2/portal.php

[worldsshell]

More bands should take this as an example and release their music simply and effectively; with no nonsense and no trends. Yes, in this case it is primarily used because their music is hard to find, but the internet as a viable means of distribution shouldn't be ignored. Music to the masses; quickly and easily.

This would also serve to bypass a lot of what is talked of here

[Arminass]

http://www.sunsword.net/classics/classics.htm

Classic speed and heavy metal MP3s.

I recommend FLACs instead of APEs:

http://flac.sourceforge.net/

[SubduedAngkst]

Ogg Vorbis has recently become my choice for lossy encoding.
FLAC is certainly the way to go for distributing or archiving exact CD copies.

Then there are those who argue that a good vinyl still offers superior quality than the digital CD can...

[death metal black metal]

Here's my take on it:

128k MP3s is all I will use.

Why?

Because for stuff I'm downloading, I'm trying it before I buy it.

If it's out of print, I want FLACs and will make an exact copy.

That's the intelligent way to handle MP3 downloads.

People downloading 256k MP3s and makign their CD collection from them are confused animals.

[euronymous]

Good production cannot make a crap album better, but it can make a good album more accessible.

Here's my take on it:

128k MP3s is all I will use.

Why?

Because for stuff I'm downloading, I'm trying it before I buy it.

If it's out of print, I want FLACs and will make an exact copy.

That's the intelligent way to handle MP3 downloads.

People downloading 256k MP3s and makign their CD collection from them are confused animals.

Such low bitrates like 128 kbps can make an album, specially some BM albums, unaccesible when trying them.

[ultranex]

http://www.beussery.com/aac.html

[euronymous]

http://www.beussery.com/aac.html

My experience:

1) LAME is garbage for anything with distortion.
2) Audiocassettes, AM radio and MP3s are all inferior. However, this is so that you can hear these files in a radio-like context, including try-before-buy. Quality is irrelevant.
3) For anything you care about, get a FLAC if it's out of print and buy the CD if in print.
4) Never buy before downloading mp3s. This way, you avoid garbage and enforce natural selection on metal (which badly needs it).

I suggest we keep using MP3s and forget about OGG and all other standards; while to a nerd they might be interesting, to someone grounded in reality it's all irrelevant crap. AM radio worked and MP3s work and all of this banter is really quite masturbatory.

http://www.anus.com/metal/hall/YaBB.cgi?action=display;board=metal_talk;num=1151976694;start=15#16

[death metal black metal]

Such low bitrates like 128 kbps can make an album, specially some BM albums, unaccesible when trying them.

I have never had problems with Fraunhofer-encoded albums at 128k.

[euronymous]

I do find nasty to listen to many 128 kbps  mp3's, specially in BM. However I guess it's enough in order of just to check an album, for most people.

I absolutely agree that making a CD collection from mp3 instead of FLAC is a mistake, unless nobody can provide the FLAC or you can't buy the album. In this cases a high quality encoding of any sort would be desirable.

[Trollope]

mp3's are ideal for fast and quick file transfers through the net, flacs are great for archiving out of print albums and if you wish to support great bands in their prime, buy original pressed cd's or burn the flacs to cd if they are out of print.

[Perpetual Catatonia]

I still don't see what the big fucking deal is.

[death metal black metal]

I still don't see what the big fucking deal is.

The industry is freaking out became MP3s are like getting tape copies of an album through the telephone: you can hear it first, and thus you buy less of their overhyped novelty crap.

Notice how Relapse suffers more for MP3s than No Colours, for example.