(subtitled mild rage, subtitled ‘I don’t what it means anymore’)
I came across the above photo via the lovelies at The Sound Is Not Asleep and their Facebook page (I think it originates from Jamie Tate of The Rukkus Room (looking in the corner)).
Whilst I do note a wry irony in the making of music on a gamillion pounds worth of equipment only for it to be consumed on cheap kit using a form of data compression that removes a whole lot of the frequency spectrum, that’s not the noteworthy point.
Without the mp3 format I’d imagine about 98% of the music made in studios wouldn’t be heard by anyone beyond the friends and family of those making it. And there’s the rub. Mp3’s crappy quality aside, they allow us to share what we create so easily. And it’s the sharing that’s the important bit, getting people to hear what you do. We can bitch all we like, we just want to be listened to. And that’s also why we bitch. Or is that irony?
peter wyeth 
So very right. Sharing’s the key. And for me, without the MP3, I’d listen to 80 percent less music than I do now.