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Thu, 05 Mar 2009 iPod generation prefer MP3 fidelity to CD says study

As musicians, producers cater for iPod listeners

Nick Spence

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A prolonged study suggests that iPods and MP3 players have affected how people, the young especially, respond to music's fidelity range.

Jonathan Berger, Professor of Music at Stanford University, California, has conducted an eight-year study in which students have rated various audio formats while listening to the same song.

Professor Berger is an accomplished composer and musician, with works available on Sony, Neuma, CRI and Harmonia Mundi record labels.

In addition to composition the Professor is an active researcher with over 60 publications in a wide range of fields relating to music, science and technology including the eight-year music study.

The Professor found over time the preference was for MP3 encoded songs, with those listening failing to establish any loss in audio quality normally associated with compressed digital music.

“I found not only that MP3s were not thought of as low quality, but over time there was a rise in preference for MP3s,” said the Professor who suggests the digitising process leaves music with a 'sizzle' or a metallic sound.

As with a previous generation's debate over the pros and cons of vinyl and CD, the study suggests young ears at least prefer the tinnier and flatter sound of some digital music over CDs and vinyl.

The choice suggests the Professor is comparable to those who still prefer vinyl in preference to CD or MP3.

“Some people prefer that needle noise, the noise of little dust particles that create noise in the grooves, I think there’s a sense of warmth and comfort in that,” the Professor told The Times.

Listening to streaming audio online, on Web sites such as MySpace and Spotify, as well as computers with small or inferior speakers have also played a role in how music is heard and perceived.

Stanford University's Jonathan Berger recordings are available as MP3s on iTunes.

The preference for MP3 sounding music has meant some producers have actively sought to mix music specifically to be heard on iPods and mobile phones.

Acclaimed dance music producer Rennie Pilgrem is one who admits to mixing music on an iPod, although he is not a fan the sonic results. "To my ears iPods are not even as good quality as cassette tape," he said. "But once someone gets used to that sound then they feel comfortable with it."

Some producers have also tried to cater for the MP3 generation by making music as loud as possible, which can mean a loss of musical range and detail.

"What you are hearing is that everything is being squared off and is losing that level of depth and clarity," said producer Stephen Street, the man behind hits from The Smiths, Morrissey, Blur and Kaiser Chiefs. "I’d hate to think that anything I’d slaved over in the studio is only going to be listened to on a bloody iPod."

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Comments received


Cal said on Thu, 05 Mar 2009

Okay, I'm not quite ready to accept that MP3s or "iPods" (which I expect means "MP3 player" here) have lower fidelity than that of digital waveform tape... evidence?

Sam Tana said on Thu, 05 Mar 2009

Too many people listening to the recording, not enough listening to the music.

Rob Turner said on Thu, 05 Mar 2009

I worked in the music industry for a few years and cant stand the awful sound reproduction from iPods. The headphones make the whole experience even worse.

Steve said on Thu, 05 Mar 2009

The *iPod* is fine - it's crappy, compressed MP3 that sounds nasty... And yes, the earbuds sound awful, too. Put a good lossless file on a Pod with some decent headphones and it can sound quite good.

CMcK said on Fri, 06 Mar 2009

This isn't any different from my parents generation that grew up listening to LW and MW radio.
That's how they think music sounds and that's how they adjust their home hi-fi and car stereos to sound.

My worry is that decent quality hi-fi equipment manufactures will start to suffer and prices will rocket. Then people who actually play and enjoy CD's and vinyl will be in a wealthy minority

Ryan Gray said on Fri, 06 Mar 2009

iTunes sells AAC, not MP3 files. iTunes Plus (256kbps AAC) is shown above. So, is this article confusing MP3 with AAC and MP3 player with iPod?

"I’d hate to think that anything I’d slaved over in the studio is only going to be listened to on a bloody iPod." In the past it was the Walkman with a hissy cassette tape, a car stereo with road noise, or FM where most people would be listening.

"To my ears iPods are not even as good quality as cassette tape"? He must be joking. I think these audiophiles listened to the first generation of MP3 players with people compressing the crap out of the files, and they came away with the conclusion that MP3 players were and always would be crap. Put a lossless file on an iPod with high-end headphones, and then tell me it's still crap.

Are we supposed to carry a case of 12" discs, turntable, tube amp and a set of studio speakers everywhere we want to listen to music? Did the transistor radio or the Walkman have to take this crap?

Michael said on Fri, 06 Mar 2009

I enjoy listening to my ipod video with Apple lossless compression. I have good phones. No way that crappy MP3 can compete with it.

AdamC said on Sat, 07 Mar 2009

It the pirated MP3s that caused all the problem.
The one about better sound from cassette tapes really takes the cake. I believe he must be still carry around his walkman.

Anitphones said on Sat, 07 Mar 2009

I'm an audio professional and I thought I should try and shed some light on this. MP3 is a compression format, where information is removed from the audio to lower the file size. What is not mentioned here is that you can remove varying amounts of information - by compressing at different bit rates. So an MP3 compressed to 320kbs is to most people's ears indistinguishable from a CD, where as an MP3 compressed to 64kbs (like some of the shared ones floating around) sounds pretty bad.

You can't lump all MP3s together under one banner and criticize them as such, because they vary so much in quality. Its a sliding scale of quality depending on the bit rate they are compressed to .

I'd be interested to see if most people can tell the difference between an MP3 encoded at 320kbs (made with pro audio software) and a CD - I'll bet they can't.

Graybird said on Sat, 07 Mar 2009

I might have missed it, but has anyone accounted for half of that age group being partially deaf because of listening to music louder than their ears can handle?

Mr Steve said on Sun, 08 Mar 2009

These guys should not relate the iPod to crappy MP3 encoded music. AAC is much better and Lossless of course is great. The audio engineers know how to mix but they end up turning the compression way up before mastering and we end up with this loud and dull junk with no dynamic range.

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