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Comment by JonnieCache | Hacker News Reader

Yesterday I bought some mp3s legally off amazon. They were 128 kbit/s. I deleted them out of rage/spite and ordered the CD, which is out of print and so all the money went to a second hand record dealer. If only I'd had recourse to piracy in that instance!

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If you legally purchase a digital copy of music and find the quality to be too low I don't see a problem in downloading a "pirated" copy at a higher bitrate. So long as you don't share it you will never run into legal problems for doing so.

Tried. Couldn't find a copy.

I was under the impression Amazon used 256Kbit VBR?

It's inconsistent. Some of the tracks are ripped with lame -V0 which is the very best quality you will ever see in an MP3 file. Others are not so good.

Although in almost all cases 128kbps is just fine and you couldn't tell the difference.

In no case is that true for MP3. The difference between 128 and 160 kbits is painfully obvious.

Agreed. It may be that my previous experience as a session drummer has influenced me here, but anyone that has challenged me in the past to point out the difference between 128 and above received the same statement each time: "listen to the cymbals, man".

Cymbal wash is enough for me to never pay a dime for 128 kbits tracks.

That's exactly how I tell the difference too, and I'm no drummer. It just sounds horrible.

As StavrosK says, this is patently false. If you really can't tell the difference you owe it to yourself to upgrade your speakers/headphones/soundcard, or perhaps get your hearing looked at.

As someone who eagerly pays extra for FLACs when given the chance, I'd rather a poke in the eye than a 128 kbit/s mp3.

EDIT: Just to preempt the righteous nerd-anger crew, I'm aware that higher bitrate MP3s are transparant; I value the bit-for-bit archival of the original record that flacs provide.

Some people have bad ears. Others have bad speakers/headphones.

You are probably both if you really believe that.

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