|
Why to not use P2P for music downloads
Most music downloaders get their material from P2P networks. This is very sad. My points:
1.) Quality - I'd venture to say that about 75-80% of MP3s found on P2P networks are ripped at 128kbps CBR. Folks, this is horrible quality. If you think this quality is acceptable then you are likely listening through poor speakers or simply don't have much of a musical ear. I'm not even going to get into how awful an audio CD made off 128kbps MP3s sounds.
Sure, you will come across some 192kbps scene rips on P2P networks. Oh yeah, those are also CBR. VBR is just better. I don't know why those scene rippers still use CBR.
Also, when you *do* happen to find those higher quality MP3s, completing an album at the same quality is next to impossible. This melts into my next point.
2.) 10,000 Different Rips - This is probably more important that point #1. When you're collecting all the songs for an album, you're probably getting files from at least 3 different rips. So what does that mean? Inconsistency. Since different people rip it from different computers, you get different bitrates, different volume levels. People use different encoders and people use different rippers. Tracks that are supposed to fade into the next rarely line up due to time discrepancies.
Solutions?
Personally I do all of my music downloading via a network of private FTPs. I love it. It's a group of about 20 FTPs, and enough people contribute that I can usually find anything I want in a matter of minutes (using an FTP database we have). Then, if something we want isn't on any of the FTPs, we can request it on a message board and it's usually up within a day. Ah, the beauty of a community.
And actually, I use to do some considerable music downloading on DirectConnect. Sure, it's P2P, but it has an advantage. Firstly, that of finding a good hub. Secondly, you're much more likely to find a consistent rip by finding one track off the album and then browsing that user's files.
What was this all about?
I don't know exactly. I'm bored at work. I just get annoyed and perturbed when people brag about all the music they download. Then you look at it, and it's a mound of steaming crap. No organization, low quality. Why do people even brag about it? Why draw attention to yourself? They possess this air of "I am so smart at computers! I can even change my background in Windows98!"
</rant>
Also, IHOP has some delicious pancakes called "Harvest Grain n' Nut Pancakes". I highly suggest them.
|