(#2006-2495) - Topics this issue: 1) Digest (09/30/2006 03:01) (#2006-2493), 2) Quality Of Music Downloads, ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 30 Sep 2006 09:51:23 EDT From: Mnbeegeesfan@aol.com Subject: Re: Digest (09/30/2006 03:01) (#2006-2493) In a message dated 9/30/2006 2:10:04 AM Central Standard Time, listmember@brothersgibb.com writes: << Subject: Cucumber Castle Does anybody know where I can find the full story of Cucumber Castle? I just found an overview of that movie at www.imdb.com. What does Cucumber Castle mean on earth? Does it have some cultural connotations? Plus, how is it related to the same titled track from the Bee Gees' First album?>>> Oh Robert! I suspect in 1967, that "Cucumber Castle" was a clever play on words for a little ditty, but when the TV special came out in 1969, it was clear that Barry (at least) referred to his 'cucumber' in hand, as his 'cucumber'. "My cucumber and I would like to..." A not so indirect reference to his penis. Not to forget the great song, "To lose your Penis". Marty From SF (yes, I have a penis) Hi Marty, Are you actually referring to the little ditty the BeeGees sang to the tune of "To Love Somebody" regarding the John Bobbick incident? Thats such a hoot! I have it on an old grainy VHS tape but wish somebody could post it on a venue such as myspace or youtube. Shows their delicious sense of humor again. Talulah ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 30 Sep 2006 14:37:16 -0400 From: "Jill Thompson" Subject: Quality Of Music Downloads Regarding the discussion about the quality of the downloaded Barry Gibb songs from iTunes and why songs aren't available in WAV, etc., there are a few points I wanted to share with everyone. 1. The Barry tracks were obviously demo quality, not finished, commercial product. That is the main factor in the less than stellar quality. On these two tracks I really believe whether WAV, MP3, 128kbps, 192kbps, or lossless format, it would have resulted in subpar sound on those 2 tracks. Most other commercial tracks (that you can buy on CD) you can download from iTunes sound many times better! Try a current commercial song that you don't want to buy the whole CD sometime and see how much better it sounds. (If you convert to MP3 though....it will diminish the quality...anytime you convert an already compressed file, it will get worse.) You can get a small, color screen, Nano iPod now for just $149....it, and your computer (iTunes) will play the songs in AAC and they will be much better than converting to MP3 from AAC. 2. MP3 or AAC (actually slightly better at the same bit rate as MPS) if taken from a good master source, sound okay at 128 AAC (as iTunes uses) and pretty darn good at 192kbps AAC or a good MP3 encoder (iTunes encoder for MP3 isn't very good, but their AAC encoder is top notch). Most people could not distinguish a good 192kbps file taken from a CD (WAV) or lossless file from the actual CD....perhaps with $500 headphones or with a good stereo system with good $1000 or more (each) tower speakers. In fact, with an ordinary system or portable player/headphones 90% of people would think 128AAC from iTunes sounded about the same as a CD. 3. The facts of #2 is a big part of why iTunes uses 128AAC for music downloads (people are basically happy with that level of quality, esp for portable players with earphones). The second factor has to do with just how much larger WAV or even lossless (about half the size of WAV with full quality, no compression) are compared to a compressed file. These files are just still too huge for regular downloads. 1 CD of music would take a very long time, even with most broadband services available to consumers...not to mention the amount of space it would take on the servers. There are still dial-up customers and a WAV download would be out of the question entirely. Too expensive and confusing to offer either. iTunes goal is to make things simple and easy and they've obviously been very successful with their download service and iPod players. Things will continue to evolve. 4. I believe lossless formats will continue to be developed and improved. This takes the file size down at least half of a CD without losing any quality because nothing is lost or compromised (like a zip file). At some point, download speeds will increase and file sizes will diminish enough to make fully quality downloads practical...perhaps enough to actually endanger physical CDs... 5. Right now, as a consumer who really cares about sound quality and has invested a lot of money in audio and video equipment and media, the price/quality is not to a point that I download anything that I can buy on CD instead, other than a single song here and there that I have no interest in owning the album. I have also bought some otherwise not available tracks (like Barry's) from iTunes. I am a music loving audiophile (and videophile) as well as an iPod enthusiast (in addition to being a 35 year Bee Gees fan and Barry Fanatic!) and spend quite a bit of time reading and experiencing such topics on a daily basis. Jill ------------------------------ End words@brothersgibb.com Digest [09/30/2006 15:01] ----------------------------------------------------