Research the differences between the MP3 and AAC audio formats, then explain why you think Apple chose the AAC format for music in their iTunes store.
While MP3 and AAC are both lossy compression and encoding schemes for digital audio, AAC was designed to be the successor of MP3 and is said to achieve better sound quality and transparency. Some improvements of AAC include more sample frequencies and channels, higher coding efficiency and accuracy for signals, and a more flexible joint stereo. Apple probably chose the AAC format for music because these improvements in AAC allow developers more flexibility to design codecs than MP3 does, and correct many of the design choices made in the original MPEG-1 audio specification. According to Apple.com, the “AAC provides audio encoding that compresses much more efficiently than older formats, such as MP3, yet delivers quality rivaling that of uncompressed CD audio.” Abelson states “MP3’s are ‘good enough’ for many purposes, but a trained and sensitive ear can detect a loss of sound quality.” For this reason, even though both MP3 and AAC are lossy compression rather than lossless compression, there would be no reason for Apple to choose MP3 when it’s just “good enough” when it could choose AAC with a new and improved sound quality.
Imformation obtained from Wikipedia and Apple.com
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I'm not sure I buy all the "better sound quality" marketing. You didn't uncover the real reason.
ReplyDeleteThe music companies wouldn't let Apple sell music without it being protected (can't send copies to friends). So, they had to choose a format that allowed digital rights management (DRM). AAC can be free or protected.