I don't own an iPOD or any mp3 player.

While I'm not a militant audiophile with thousands of pounds worth of separates - quite the opposite - I do like my music to sound good and mp3 doesn't really cut it for me. There is a world of difference between playing back a song on an iPOD through a stereo and playing the same song, on the same equipment from the original CD. This is understandable considering the techniques used to produce a compact sound file from a much larger original but I know quite a few people who are quite happy to just plug-in the iPOD or stream the audio off their PC rather than dig out the CD.

With downloads now out-selling CDs and record companies recognising that many people want to rip their CDs to mp3, sound engineers are having to compromise quality meet the perceived demands of the consumer.

This is a very interesting article explaining some of the technicalities of the situation:

http://www.rollingstone.com/news/sto...fidelity/print

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