Article in WSJ about compressed dynamic range

Any lawyers out there - possible class action lawsuit here? I have over 1000 CD's and I would estimate that at least 10% are "hard clipped" throughout - that means totally maxed out with flat square waves on peak parts in the music. In any other respectable business this kind of faulty product would be recalled.

See this site - software now exists that will tell you how bad a CD product is CD Clipping

We also have "expert" witnesses who have made public statements. It is fairly easy to prove that the product is faulty.

Unsound - isn't it strange that they keep master tapes pure and uncompressed but we won't be ever able to hear them because of this mentality?

It is so sad...

Perhaps some studio rats might pipe in, but it's my understanding that the process used to make super loud recordings involves much more than simple compression. It's not just flicking a single switch and it cannot presently be duplicated at the consumer end.

Most DSP's have a reduced dynamic range feature which is needed on crap systems as movies often have great dynamics (still). If you ever struggle to hear dialogue on a movie then you have a "crap" system that unfortunately benefits from the compressed modern pop crap from the studios (this is unfortunately many more systems than most people actually realize - it is not just iPods, boomboxes and cars - many systems have a deeply scooped midrange and benefit from audio compression in order to make dialog more audible...)