4 ms·
The ways in which biases can be encoded in an algorithm are not trivial. The author takes pains to describe how the lossiness of MP3 encoding is audible. The co
by cardamomo 6y ago
The ways in which biases can be encoded in an algorithm are not trivial. The author takes pains to describe how the lossiness of MP3 encoding is audible. The codec's authors made aesthetic decisions, shaped by their own taste, to determine what sounds could be acceptably removed from the audio. That should be a significant point in almost any discussion of MP3. The author of this piece does not, however, challenge the technical merit of the codec, as you claim. Instead, its biases are simply acknowledged and plainly described.
- apostacy 6y agoI for one find the idea that there is a "white" way to hear music to be pretty offensive. Does he have any evidence for his race-realist perspective? I wish we could move past these outdated ideas. Of course mp3 is limited by the people who made it, everything is. It certainly wasn't done with any bad intentions.
- kevin_thibedeau 6y agoThat is cultural bias. It is just easier to play the other card and get attention.
- nayuki 6y ago> The author takes pains to describe how the lossiness of MP3 encoding is audible. > Its biases are simply acknowledged and plainly described. Not at all. The author attempts to show the residue of white/pink/brown noise and of a couple of famous test clips (the ones that could be labelled as European). The author makes no attempt to compare or show that MP3 has worse artifacts on non-European music. Great job there. That's why I find the racial accusation to be out of place. I should note that I've done subtractive analysis of MP3 and Vorbis before, so I've seen the results of my test samples as well. Briefly, I found that MP3 has more tonal residue, whereas Vorbis sounds more like noise. The post-masking residue on Vorbis is stronger.