Archive of UserLand's first discussion group, started October 5, 1998.

Re: Napster meeting today

Author:Jeremy Bowers
Posted:6/20/2000; 8:54:08 AM
Topic:Napster meeting today
Msg #:17942 (In response to 17927)
Prev/Next:17941 / 17943

Is Napster going to move past its MP3 only status anytime soon, supporting other music file formats (like Vorbis, just to name an example)? Will they be assisting work in creating free formats better then MP3?

MP3 is a good format and there's a lot to like about it, but it's not the be-all end-all format. MP3 sucks the life out of classical music, and a lot of other genres of music get hit pretty hard (jazz comes to mind) as well. I'm not just talking "production values" here, something I agree is overrated, but the actual life of the music. Is Napster, like the industry before it, only going to really focus on pop music, which, while often quite good, is not the totality of 'music'?

The root problem is that an artist limited to the abilities of MP3 is going to be unnecessarily constained in expressive power. I'm not a complete stranger to this, my hobby is composing, and my own music is hurt badly by converting it to MP3. I suspect that will become a larger stumbling block if Napster tries to branch out beyond pop music into areas where MP3 becomes a much weaker format.

(added later: Let me emphasize, MP3 is a good start, and I like it, and I vastly prefer it to nothing. It just can't carry the whole revolution, that's all.)

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