Let’s Get Serious About Digital Music
Confessions of an audiophile
Admittedly, digital music has improved dramatically since Apple started the revolution with the introduction of Itunes and the Ipod almost fifteen years ago. Since then, availability and selection have grown steadily, quality has improved and social tools empower people to discover and share new (and old for that matter) music in unprecedented ways.
Still, the industry is struggling to reach a standard set some thirty years ago. A standard — the compact disc — in itself inferior to the previous standard. When it comes to quality, the music industry seems to operate quite the opposite to most other lines of business. It will therefore be interesting to hear what Tim Cook has to say about music, as widely anticipated, in his keynote at the Worldwide Developers Conference.
The turntable is waiting to be turned.
I admit, I am an audiophile. This is my case against the type of music we got used to; compressed, destroyed music. However, counting kilobits per second and measure catalogue size by number of songs will get us nowhere. Simply because it is a technical approach to the arts. A painting is not a better painting because it has more brushstrokes. A museum is not a better museum because it has more artifacts on display.
Instead, we should approach digital music from a different perspective. And on a different level. Asking questions about compression and mastering. Examining the degree of avant-garde and variety of a selection. Exploring the features and functionality of different services. So, let’s turn things up a notch.
Why Lossless is Actually Rather Lossy
The first issue examined here is quality in terms of bit rate per second. We got used to the term in the MP3-era, where 128, 256 and 320 are common digits. In October 2013, Wimp launched “lossless music streaming”. The service offers music encoded in ALAC (Apple Lossless) and FLAC in up to 1 411 kbps. Wimp’s initiative is a step in the right direction, and delivers sound quality equivalent to that of the compact disc.
That is, the quality we took for granted thirty years ago.
What we tend to forget is that the compact disc is in itself a compressed format. It is not lossless. It is actually rather lossy. When the CD was introduced, it was the lowest quality music format. Even an 8-track tape was capable of holding more information than this optical media. Compared to the original — a studio master — the compact disc lacks much of the information needed to bring music to life.
A CD is encoded at 16-bit (the bit depth) and at 44.1kHz (the sample rate). A studio master is encoded at 24-bit or higher, and currently up to 192kHz. The sample rate tells us how many times the original signal has been “sliced up” and the bit depth tells us how much information has been recorded in each slice. Itunes is currently only capable of handling music at CD-quality.
Compared to common streaming formats such as MP3 and Ogg Vorbis — all other things being equal — CD-quality is of course superior. But to only strive for CD-quality is to set your standards low.
There is a War Going On
A second and even greater issue is the arms race in music industry, sometimes referred to as the loudness war. Yes, there is a war going on out there. You cannot see it, but you can clearly hear the effects of it. The loudness war has been going on for several decades, with increased intensity.
In order to increase volume, loudness can be increased through signal processing techniques such as dynamic range compression and equalization. Studio engineers therefore apply an increasingly high ratio of compression to a recording until it more frequently peaks at the maximum amplitude. In extreme cases, clipping and other audible distortion is introduced to increase loudness further.
What this means is that the dynamics, the difference between quiet and loud parts of the music, is compromised. Instead, everything is loud and much of the clarity and punch is lost. Grant Leung made an excellent video where the loudness war and its victim — dynamic range — is explained.
Think about record labels as book publishers. A book is usually published in different formats, with different quality of paper and level of craftsmanship. Buying an album at the Itunes Store or Google Play is the equivalent of buying a paperback with soft cover held together with glue. With some pages missing. In contrast, the very same book exists in a hardcover edition with stitched high-quality pages and leather cover. That book, however, is not available in the digital convenient store.
If we would like to enjoy music as it was originally intended, with an intact dynamic range, we have to turn to the small and niched labels. Labels such as Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab, Linn Records, Audio Fidelity and Rykodisc. Apple’s initiative Mastered for iTunes is an indication that we are moving in the right direction. Arguably, a well-made studio master has greater impact on sound quality than a high bit rate. Vice versa, the bit depth and sample rate doesn’t matter if the source suffers from compression and distortion.
More is Less
Thirdly, streaming services has opened up an enormous musical smorgasbord for people to chose from. Scandinavian competition — Swedish Spotify and Norwegian Wimp — made streaming easy and popular. And Soundcloud, the German-based online audio distribution service, has become a popular platform for grass-root musicians.
But is a huge selection necessary a good thing? All the popular streaming music services claim to have some thirty million songs the their catalogues. For the sake of argument, let’s say that the average song is four minutes. That’s more than 225 years of non-stop listening. Every hour of the day, every day of the week, every week of the year. This is when it becomes ridiculous.
More is only better if you are a casual mainstream music consumer, not if you have a clear understanding of your preferences and taste. Which might be an acquired taste, one might add. When I want to listen to the prodigy Frank Zappa’s Ship Arriving Too Late To Save A Drowning Witch, I cannot do that on Spotify. Why? Because it’s not in their catalogue. And when I turn to play the ingenious In Rainbows by Radiohead — one of their best records — I come out short. Why? Because it’s not in their catalogue. I cannot even listen to one of history’s most influential albums, legendary Let it Be by The Beatles. Why? It’s not there. Ironically, Bruce Springsteen’s 57 Channels (And Nothin’ On) is there.
Bang for the buck
Fourthly, when choosing a digital music service to fits your needs, features and value for money are probably two areas of interest.
While Spotify probably is the best choice for the casual music consumer, Apple offers an appealing solution with Itunes Match. This is especially true if you have a large music library. Up to 25,000 of your songs becomes available on up to ten devices (iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Mac, PC, or Apple TV) for under 25 dollar a year. Quite competitive compared to Spotify Premium, priced almost five times more at 119,88 a year. Some, what I believe, unique features comes with Itunes Match as well.
When listening to a song though Itunes Match via the Music app on your Iphone, tap on the album cover to display the lyrics. If you have entered the lyrics along with the other metadata, that is.
Another feature that set Itunes Match apart from other services is the possibility to listen to different songs from the same music collection simultaneously. Your friends can enjoy The Knife’s Deep Cuts though your home entertainment system, while you listen to Miles Davis’ Bitches Brew at the same time when walking to the store for some more ice. Neat.
The Audiophile Approach
The digital music revolution has made a tremendous impact on how we listen to and interact with music. Music is now easily accessible everywhere, and can be enjoyed at home and on the run, in solitude or shared with friends (regardless of physical distance). The only thing that has not improved is quality. In fact, it has got worse during the last thirty years. We have become accustomed to listening to compressed, destroyed music.
But perhaps it is time for a change. Next week, Apple can bring quality back and take the lead in the digital music revolution. Three things need to be done:
- Raise the standard. Enhance all current “Itunes+” (AAC 256 kbit/s VBR) to “Apple Lossless” (typically around 800 kbit/s). This will ensure that we at least raise the standard to CD-quality.
- Introduce Apple Hi-Fi. Open up for studio master files in Itunes, at least at 24-bit 96 kHz, in a special audiophile section of the store.
- Make Itunes versatile. Make Itunes accept files at studio master quality, preferrably all the way up to 24-bit 192 kHz.
Finally, don’t get fooled by kilobits per second as the sole indicator of quality. The MFSL-version of The Beatles’ Let it Be will sound superior, even at 256 kbit/s, compared to a 800 kbit/s “lossless” standard recording. Mastering matters.
