List of MP3 sources on CD

I get most of my new music from Promo Only....Does anyone know if
they use lossy files?

MMathews wrote: A master tape source of limited freq. range recording can be easily processed to read a false-positive on a spectral screen. Conversely, i know of several ways to take an good mp3 source and have it pass a spectral test easily to fool it. So, point is there is no special one-sized fits all method to determining a lossy source. These results can be inaccurate or misleading. The best tool is still your ears. MM

I respect your opinion, Mark, but these are mostly tracks
where we have found lossless sources for the identical
songs and they look totally different under spectral
analysis than the apparent lossy sources. "Crank That,"
which I mentioned above, is one of those -- it is
lossless on the Souljaboytellem.com album, but on both
the promo and the import, if you zoom in closely enough
to the spectral waveform, you will see whole chunks of
data that have literally been cut out of the waveform,
like someone took a mini cookie cutter and cut thousands
of holes in it. Your explanation is possible, but it's
just as likely that the record companies don't care and
just send out whatever files, or lose track of which is
which. I also would argue against the "using your ears"
method, because very, very few tracks can be easily A/B'd
at 320kb, and anyone who tells me they can do it the
majority of the time has never done it in a blind
listening test, in my opinion.

This should be something that allows for action to be taken against record labels. Because that means these lossy sources will be used for LPs and 12" singles too. And the labels aren't making a good case in trying stop downloads of MP3s. Why would I now buy a compact disc instead downloading an MP3?

Latest SoundScan stats: "CD sales represented 61% of all album sales through midyear, down from 66% at this time last year. Digital album sales accounted for 38% of all album purchases during the first half of the year."

At least for full-length albums, CDs are still outselling digital downloads (93 million units vs 57 million units, year-to-date). Year-to-date singles sales are at 698 million units.

When you think about the history of recorded music, though, a high quality mp3 far exceeds the sound quality that most consumers have had in years past. Vinly only sounds better than mp3 when you have expensive equipment and a copy that is in great condition. Cassettes have never sounded amazing, even when played on a good deck. Furthermore, most people can't tell the difference between an mp3 and a lossless CD.

That's not to excuse the carelessness of putting a lossy file on a factory-pressed CD, but as Brian points out, it's very, very difficult to hear a difference at 320kbps. Unless it was a glaring quality issue, the mastering engineer may not have noticed.

aaronk wrote: Vinly only sounds better than mp3 when you have expensive equipment and a copy that is in great condition.

I take great issue with that.