Since were on the topic of music sound quality. Doesn’t the frequency range have something to do with that? Consider the various PC frequency range specifications, whether software or hardware. I think it’s common for them to say from 20-20,000hz. I’ve seen it (or similar values) on headphones and some software if I remember correctly. So apparently if there’s one weak link in the signal chain, the sound will be reduced to that lowest level in order to fit through the effective “frequency range” bottleneck.

Anyway, if that is the case, one guy who does a lot of work in DJ’ing and such, told me that MP3 320 is the same as an uncompressed file, except that both frequency range extremes have been cut down to the range that the human ear can hear. Now I’m not sure what that range actually is, but if it’s close to 20-20k, then I might assume that the highest quality MP3 320kpbs would be an acceptable or reasonably high quality recording, but in a much smaller file size than an uncompressed WAV/PCM, etc. Maybe I’m wrong about that, but that seems like one feasible option.

Also, I hear that some sites offer higher grade (better than MP3 320) media files. Although I haven’t checked out very many, most sites seemed to offer a premium service for higher quality files at an upgrade price.