I've also noticed that, too. Files stored on my mp3-player are the most susceptible to the degradation process (they start going bad in 30 days or even less when left in sunlight). Leave them in for 3 months and they start sounding kinda like this thread - surreal.
Nowadays I just use ogg instead. Not only does it compress better than mp3, it also offers better error correction than even CDs. You can also find portable ogg-capable players for not too much.
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I mean, many mp3s are quite low quality to begin with. The first time you hear a song, it's all new and you hear an idealized version of it. The more often you listen to it, the more you can focus on the details, which is normally a good thing, but not, when the details are compression/ripping artifacts...
Bizarrely, I've had great success in keeping my MP3s from degrading by storing them in my iPod, which despite being bent (got it caught in a car door) is still functional. Anyone got an explanation for this effect?
Quote:Original post by Oberon_Command Bizarrely, I've had great success in keeping my MP3s from degrading by storing them in my iPod, which despite being bent (got it caught in a car door) is still functional. Anyone got an explanation for this effect?
Probably because Apple products are the electronic equivalents of McDonald's food (in that they're full of so many preservatives they will never degrade).
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Original post by BosskIn Soviet Russia, you STFU WITH THOSE LAME JOKES!
Quote:Original post by Oberon_Command Bizarrely, I've had great success in keeping my MP3s from degrading by storing them in my iPod, which despite being bent (got it caught in a car door) is still functional. Anyone got an explanation for this effect?
AFAIK, Apple uses nano-scale pyramid structures in the NAND storage cells to keep the individual bits fresh (for Flash versions, the harddisk-based devices use complex 3-dimensional patterns across the platters to emulate the effect). You should make sure that the bits don't get stuck in the corners of those structures though if you have a Flash-based iPod. To do that, just lay it on a flat surface with the display facing down and tap it gently with a small rubber jeweler's hammer. You should do that every month or so, especially if you haven't been using the device for some time. If some bits get stuck, the reading process will eventually reset them, but you will experience some jitter.
Thank goodness no one has picked up on my long-term passive-aggressive annoy-ware... Go little virus go! Fuzz, click, and scratch all those MP3s! Not too quick! Just quickly enough to make the owner think they're losing their mind. Bwahah.
I love this thread. All jokes aside, tho, this is caused by the increasing density of HDDs which leads to the data being much much smaller. If you ever studied quantum physics you know that, the smaller you get the more uncertainty and probability seeps in. The chance of the bits being set to their correct value decreases and so, every now and then (very very rarely - bits are still fairly "big scale" for quantum physics), a bit will just flip its value, which causes tiny, unnoticeable corruption of the data. Give it enough time, and these random corruptions start to add up and are perceived as what we hear as artifacts, random clicks and pops etc.
This is currently a really big (if not the biggest) issue the HDD devs like Seagate and Hitachi have been struggling with when increasing the HDD capacity, and a reason why we are not seeing as drastic increase in HDD space anymore as we did in the past few years (I think the biggest acceptable size is something around 16 terrabytes, anything above that and the random flipping becomes too uncontrollable).
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Quote:Original post by Koobazaur If you ever studied quantum physics you know that, the smaller you get the more uncertainty and probability seeps in. The chance of the bits being set to their correct value decreases and so, every now and then (very very rarely - bits are still fairly "big scale" for quantum physics), a bit will just flip its value, which causes tiny, unnoticeable corruption of the data.
Wow I cant believe that about 95% of you actually took the time to post stupid (sometimes elaborate) nonesense thinking it was funny. Also I have no idea why I would have gotten rated down for posting this question...
To the 2 or 3 people who posted serious answers, heres some more info: I'm talking strictly about playing MP3s on computer, so the quality of IPOD and other media's hard drives is not a factor. Even further than that, I havnt even changed my hard drive media in 10 years. I'm still using Western Digital 7200 RPM IDE Hard drives. Also, I'm even still using winamp 5.0 because I tried upgrading to a later version a long time ago and I absolutely hated how they changed the interface. I like it lean and mean! All in all, my computer is a pretty good time-capsule so I dont think any of the arguments about hardware/software upgrading bring the reason for the sound difference.
I'm not sure how serious they were, but I dont really buy any of the arguments about bits randomly flipping over time due to hard disk degradation or whatever. If that were true, then it wouldnt just affect MP3 files. Text files would have a few incorrect letters here and there, and exe files would just stop working or crash.
