AAC stream and stereo

[Robert_S]

As an audiophile, I noticed the past shows are mono MP3, with inferior sound quality to the original live AAC stream.  I also noticed that when I listen on Tune-In, I seem to get the MP3 stream by default, which of course doesn't sound as good.  So then I change to the AAC stream, and then the sound is really good!  Not perfect, of course, but pretty close.

Is there going to be a time we can download the AAC version of the show?  Or at least a higher bit-rate MP3 file?

[cweb]

Purely speculation here....

I'm guessing that the podcasts are kept at the quality they are to keep the file sizes smaller, storage more affordable, and downloads less time-consuming for subscribers. Adding another high-quality download might cost either time or money they don't want to spend. The philosophy may be that offering two different qualities would be redundant for the majority of listeners- and that switching to AAC-only offers less compatibility across the board. (Yes, AAC has a lot of supported devices nowadays, but mp3 is supported by everything.)

Quality may be another reason why some folks have elected to record the show on their own, snagging the AAC+ version of it. However, at least one poster on here said that he had poor luck with recording the AAC stream due to reliability issues.

You could argue that we're not talking that much space here, but across however many subscribers and however many shows, it might add up.

[williedee]

Purely speculation here....

I'm guessing that the podcasts are kept at the quality they are to keep the file sizes smaller, storage more affordable, and downloads less time-consuming for subscribers. Adding another high-quality download might cost either time or money they don't want to spend. The philosophy may be that offering two different qualities would be redundant for the majority of listeners- and that switching to AAC-only offers less compatibility across the board. (Yes, AAC has a lot of supported devices nowadays, but mp3 is supported by everything.)

Quality may be another reason why some folks have elected to record the show on their own, snagging the AAC+ version of it. However, at least one poster on here said that he had poor luck with recording the AAC stream due to reliability issues.

You could argue that we're not talking that much space here, but across however many subscribers and however many shows, it might add up.

The beauty of AAC is that it uses the same amount of bandwidth/space as mp3 with better quality. The only reason I can think that they don't offer the download as mp3 or m4a/aac is because it would require 2x as much editing.  I really do hope that the downloads get better.. My archiving failed again last night due to streaming issues.