Objectively, ATRAC was worse than CD as a compressed format. But it was actually very cleverly done, and it sounded better than MPEG audio at the same bit rate.

Objectively, ATRAC was worse than CD as a compressed format. But it was actually very cleverly done, and it sounded better than MPEG audio at the same bit rate. What killed the format was Sony's aggressive policy of forcing you to use their software.