As we broadcast more and more songs in MP3 format,  I’m wondering about the ways people listen to the Folk Show.  I’m guessing most are listening in situations where it’s hard to discern the difference between moderate sound quality and high quality. 

  Here’s the link to the article that prompted this post NY Times article

I think high quality is important…

appreciating differences in sound quality is as much a learned thing as inherant to your actual hearing. I wouldn’t assume that your hearing is bad if you don’t notice how great something is supposed to sound just yet.

Even if a broadcast is of high quality, it wouldn’t sound great is you don’t have high quality earphones which are pricey.

Hi Mel,

I have read about listener preferences (re: mp3 files) previously and there has been some “informal” study of this. Apparently - folks prefer the quality of what they are “used to” listening to. Big shock. Interesting reading here: http://radar.oreilly.com/2009/03/the-sizzling-sound-of-music.html If all you ever had was a pair of Apple ear bud headphones—a richer sound would probably sound strange to you too!

I guess we’ve sacrificed quality in just about every phase of our lives for cost & convenience.

I know this doesn’t help answer your query—but hope you find Jonathan Berger’s “study” interesting food for thought.