MP3 playback

Clearly, audio quality isn't the concern. MiniDiscs sound OK, but MP3 sounds like, well, sorry, I just threw up in my mouth.

(I don't like MP3).

Sorry, just don't see why we're all giving up on presenting our audiences with a quality presentation and instead are pandering to sub-standard experiences as far as audio is concerned.

CD-R is so cheap, why not just use CD-R? Hell, go DVD-R, incorporate video or at least have longer set options and multi-track playback via the optical, go into a decoder and take your multiple channels.

Or go with a laptop based DAW solution. I know that CDs can skip. MiniDiscs are relatively robust and shouldn't skip. Yes, a DAW can crash. DAT tape isn't feasible anymore, plus it's tape, so it will wear.

Maybe a solid state solution, such as a USB stick with 44.1/16 audio files? Flash cards(like for cameras?)

Show your audience you care. I'm always quality first. I would never subject my audience to MP3's.

I did an event where the DJ's got all their music via stolen MP3 sources. I happened to have one of the songs on a CD I took with me and played it for them to compare, and wow, no surprise, the CD sounded a LOT better. Gee, go figure. Even at the 192K settings, I can hear the degradation, although it's ALMOST tolerable(but still not tolerable). but the DJ's were just killing time until the headliner's set was scheduled to start and he kicked butt with his band and live set.

Mini discs are stored in mp3 format.

The quality of an mp3 can be the same as the original CD, it depends on the byte rate it was encoded at, and also where it came from, If it was ripped from the CD at 44k samples bytrate 192kbs or more it will be same as CD quality.

However when people get illegal MP3s which gives the format a bad reputation they are in lower byte rates so that they can fit more on the CD/DVD/HD it comes on or for download speed etc.. Also Stolen MP3s can be recordings from the radio etc so can be poor sound quality.

I use MP3 as a DJ, I've never had complaints about sound quality, My MP3s are all legally mine though, from original CDs, legit downloads such as HMV, promo CDs etc.. I also play music videos that are in VOB format, direct copy from the original DVD which are all purchased legit from Mixmash.

If you get MP3s from Limewire etc they will be of poor quality, but MP3s that are encoded correctly and legally are as good quality as CDs.

If you only want background music, and playlist , you can simply use media play it comes free with Windows and is ok for that purpose.

If you want more control you could use software like PCDJ / PCDJ VJ / virtual DJ to mention a few.

Also to consider, in the UK we have a "produb" license, which is a license to rip from cd to mp3, you would have to check what you need in your country.

Let's start off with some bad information being corrected:

First, MiniDiscs are NOT stored in MP3 format. They do use ATRAC compression, which like MP3 is LOSSY, but unlike MP3, it uses a much more sophisticated algorithm using phsycoacoustic principles and theories to "make intelligent decisions on what can and can NOT or should not be removed". MP3 just EQ's the snot out of it and then starts dropping bits like at a sex orgy at the leper colony.

Yeah, lovely picture isn't it?

Puh-LEASE!! I worked closely with the development teams on this one, so don't even! Whoever told you that was full of crap.

Tell you what, do this: Involve yourself in recording project from BEGINNING(as in the song writing phase) all the way through the demo and then ultimately studio recording process, then mixdown, mastering and finally duplication. Now you KNOW what it's supposed to sound like.

Take that same CD, rip it to 192K MP3's and it's gonna make it sound boxy. If you can't hear it, then you either lack good ears AND/or good gear. Don't take this as a slam, but when you use high resolution everything all the time, your ear gets trained to it and knows what to listen for. But you've got to invest the time into it, as well as the gear into it(and hence the money).

Then, if you really want to get nasty, re-import the MASTER/CD back into ProTools(becaues that's what I prefer) then also do the same thing with that ripped 192K MP3: It's NOT gonna look the same. Similar yes, but not same. Sit side by side with the mastering engineer on his system and take a listen. Done that yet? I have.

(hell, got the same rig as one of the mastering engineers I use, mainly to do sanity checks on those masters. I can't match his environment though. Same ProTools, same CPU, same hardware, same amp, same speakers, same brand and length of cables because it worked, same connectors, same everything)

Why don't you get complaints? Well, let's sum it up: people don't know good quality until they hear it, and since they can't reference back to compare, they just say "well, I can hear it, who gives a rat's hindparts after that". Plus, people are becoming more and more accustomed to hearing garbage. Equally alarming is environmentally-caused hearing damage and loss on the rise. People are just purposely engaging in actvities that are destroying their ears, be it by choice or even by trade. People don't know what quality is anymore. Plus, most people see a DJ, their expectations are already low anyways. Just how it goes.

Now, I do agree that if you just want to go ghetto, Windows Media Player or even Apple's iTunes player works just fine for background music. Honestly, I think Windows Media Player works a bit better on the drag and drop, as iTunes always wants to fondle the bits a bit for no valid reason.

In the end, MP3 still sounds like ass. Period. CD sounds better. Take "correctly" and even "legally" out and just assume that the MP3 is being ENCODED by the mastering engineer, and it's STILL not going to sound as good as the CD. Closer, close, but NOT quite.

Sorry, but when you deal with someone like me who has a background in both studio engineering and live sound, that ain't gonna fly.

Right now I'm ripping my entire CD library to 16-bit PCM .wav files to my hard drive, which while isn't native to the CD format, it is capable of a direct 1:1 rip/transfer so it is capable of making an exact replica. And I'm also seeing and hearing how many do not make an exact duplicate, as I ran into one that chose to throw some 4:1 hard knee compression on the rip as opposed to just "taking what is there and putting on the drive". I hate it when it sounds all pumpy.

I laughed so hard when you said that MiniDiscs store in MP3 format, I think a piece of calamari I was eating flew out my nose. Thank goodness it wasn't a tube piece!