"Pointless" is relative here. 8kbps is enough - when you don't spare anything anything to bit correction. Maybe in those cases, somewhat okay analogue audio is

"Pointless" is relative here. 8kbps is enough - when you don't spare anything anything to bit correction. Maybe in those cases, somewhat okay analogue audio is enough (for example, in long-distance raditelephony). But having a very impressive digital codec raises the bar significantly, especially the last time someone bothered with this is someone in Nokia trying to fit 6kbps using what was now rudimentary phone chips. Additionally, there are people in the world (including US) who are stuck using unreliable 28kbps lines. Having an option to do excellent audio and video is something that no-one seemed bothered to do.