Beyond the MP3, the future of file types

[losthighway]

Hey gang. My second (this one bought used as 'refurbished') ipod classic bit the dust and it got me thinking.

I'm wondering if anyone would dare speculate where consumer audio file types are going to go?

** The present**

-I'm finding the innovation here is quite slow. The mp3 has been a standard internet, song file for so many years now. Granted, better bandwidth has brought with it higher-quality files. The technology surely must exist for a better sounding, small, lossless file type that could easily integrate with the current market.

-Flac seems to have taken hold as a niche file for people who are into it, but there's not a good piece of hardware (other than a computer (that I know of)) for listening to these without conversion.

-The M4a (or mp4?) is still the standard itunes filetype, but it's not much better than an mp3 and far less versatile. I can drop mp3 folders on a flashdrive and just plug it into my car stereo, except of course the massive catalog of m4a's I have on my hard drive won't.

** The future**

I'm pretty bad at prediction, which is why I'm asking for insight. The only reasonable thing I figure, is that since so many people are streaming, and bandwidth is getting better with American fiber optic networks, and the inevitable 5G wireless upgrade coming, hosting sites might take high-quality files, and then doll them out at a bit rate the user's internet connection can actually handle.

As a side not: I resent that as physical storage becomes, cheaper, smaller and more convenient, Apple is pushing out devices with less of it in order to force people onto "the cloud". Yeah, I'm a Luddite.

[kslight]

High bit rate MP3s sound pretty good compared to whatever squeezes through the streaming services I've heard...then they get output on phone speakers or earbuds or TVs...

We've seen high res stuff come and go (I had forgotten about that Pono project until recently)...and really I think that bandwidth isn't a concern for most outside of rural limited and slow data plans...with a lot of people obviously engaging in streaming video that consumes far more data that a high res audio file would.

I guess the question would be is can we get the consumer to care about audio quality? I think convenience and cost (assuming there would be a price disparity) is always gonna win the consumer's heart.

[vvv]

I think it'll be lossless, finally, and so I predict FLAC, which, for example, Bandcamp already streams.

I, BTW, have a Agptek mini-player what takes mini-SD's, and plays FLAC, and sounds pretty damn good.

[losthighway]

I think it'll be lossless, finally, and so I predict FLAC, which, for example, Bandcamp already streams.

I, BTW, have a Agptek mini-player what takes mini-SD's, and plays FLAC, and sounds pretty damn good.

Yeah, FLAC already has a foothold so it seems next in line. It just needs to go mainstream.

Thanks for the tip on the Agptek. I'm not sure I can shell out another several hundred dollars for an aging ipod, but I need a portable player. My library is too big not to, and I refuse to subscribe to a streaming service.

[vvv]

https://www.amazon.com/AGPTEK-Playback- ... ref=sr_1_6?

<US$30

[A.David.MacKinnon]

It's funny this is coming up now. I just had a weekend away with some old musical friends. We haven't seen much of each other in 7 or 8 years but I spent alot of my 20's and 30's sitting in tour vans with them.
We were at a cottage with no cell or Wi-Fi access so all the tunes we're coming from iPods. We all realized that most of our iPod libraries stop somewhere around 2012. I still load up the iPod with podcasts and mixes that need a car check but I really haven't added new releases to the library in years.
At home I'm mostly listening to vinyl and in the car I'm streaming (as long as im somewhere with service). No idea what the future format will be but the likelihood of the iPod model continuing seems unlikely.

[vvv]

The iPud model is almost a bigger PITA then the Discman.

With the latter ya gotta carry stuff, with the former ya gotta load it.

But with streaming, as ya mention, is reception issues ...