56kbps MP3s are the Worst
About ten years ago, probably, it would be a semi-frequent pastime of me and some of my geekier friends to get together in one another's basements, connect our computers via a series of wires, gadgets, and switches. You see, wireless networks were not prevalent (or inexpensive) at the time, so it would take about an hour or more to get all set up. Once we finally got it altogether, we'd play a few first person shooter games, sports games, etc., drink lots of soda, and generally geek out until morning.
Some of the games were not of my most interest, however. Back at home, my parents did not have fast Internet (like that of many of my friends), so what I would spend a big portion of my time doing, is searching through my friends' computers for MP3's, videos, and other interesting files, copying them over to my machine if I found them particularly interesting.
My friend Drew had a large collection of MP3's that were of interest to me: Nirvana's entire catalog, various Incubus archives, other bands I enjoyed. So, without thinking twice, I copied everything he had that was interesting onto my own computer.
Thing is -- these MP3's of Drews are of a particularly low quality. MP3's have a bit-rate, which essentially is a measure of how much information is contained in each second of music within the file. Naturally, the higher the bit-rate, the more information in the song, the larger the MP3 file. Keep in mind that this was circa 1999-2001, when hard disks didn't come nearly as large as they do now, and didn't come nearly as cheaply as they do, now, either.
CD-quality is essentially 128kbps (meaning 128 kilobits of information are contained in each second of music). Drew -- who perhaps doesn't possess "audiophile" level hearing -- had made a decision to store all of his MP3s at 56kbps to save space (on his small, expensive hard drive). He saved space and the expense of reduced quality, which he couldn't tell the difference. And to be fair, I couldn't tell the difference too much, either.
But then speakers got better. And iPods came out. And headphones got better. And and and and... 56kbps MP3s that previously sounded adequate started to sound like absolute crap. Drums are tinny, vocals are scratchy, and the details are missing. They don't take up much space, though.
So here it is 2010. Disk space is large and disk space is cheap. Speakers and headphones are of high quality. And I still have about 80 really, really low quality MP3s hanging around that have followed me from computer-to-computer-to-computer over the years.
These low-quality files come up occasionally when I'm on shuffle and at first I won't notice. I'll get into it. Then when that chorus hits and Dave Grohl's drumming starts to sound like Doug Funnie banging on a trash can, I know.
Drew, your MP3 from ten years ago got me again!
Other People’s Lives
Looking at pictures
Of other people
And the things they do
Making me wonder
If I'm having fun
Doing what I do
They travel around
They explore the world
And it all looks fine
I plot the future
I plan my next step
And wish theirs was mine
Believe Me
I found this in a stack of many things like it -- songs that weren't good enough to ever put music to. It's from February 2005. I'm calling it "Believe Me," now, but referred to it as "Overly Emo Love Song" at the time.
I want to show you how much I love you
If it's the only thing I ever do
If it's what you needed to see it
I'd rip my heart out and serve it to you
Because life's too short to be living in doubt
Whatever it takes to believe me is what I need now
So just tell me make me force me show me how
I can make you see
I can see it in your eyes
Like every time's a surprise
I tell you that I need you
You consider it all lies
It's the truth and that I know
So drop the caution and let's just go
Believe me when I tell you truth
The thing I love most is you
If you want my heart on a platter
I'll bring it to you with a knife and spoon
Just on the hope you'll believe me
More than once in a blue moon
Whatever you want me to do
Whatever you need me to say
Whatever it takes to convince you
I can make you see
Naturally, there'd be some differentiation between chorus, verses, and breaks. I don't think my notes every got that far. It was really interesting to find this. And pretty exciting to tear up the paper it was written on.
