Here is the deal with MP3. It is lossy compression getting its original data from CD. Most every MP3 out there was ripped from a CD and then had a lot of data thrown out. You lose info. You might argue that the data lost is not important, but I think most audiophiles agree that data loss is never really OK. MP3 primarily loses data about the high frequencies and low freqencies. As for the bitrate thing, that has nothing to do with Napster. The idea is that when someone creates an MP3 off of a CD, they can choose the fidelity level. 128 bit is normal but it can be higher. I think that you might be able to do MP3's that are nearly lossless, but so few people make such high quality copies that you will really only encounter those if you make them yourselves. Here are my two suggestions. One is that there is a new piece of hardware coming out that is detailed on Stereophiles website that takes the data off of a CD and stores it on a hard drive with variable compression. You can use that system set to lossless or near-lossless compression and achieve an effect close to that of an MP3 player. Otherwise you can buy the home audio MP3 player that Dell is going to release and just deal with the problems.
MP3 players
I just got DSL and discovered napster and so I was thinking how cool it would be to have an mp3 player with all my favorite songs downloaded on it and set it on random play and just kick back. Who would need a tuner? It should sound at least as good if not better and no commercials just my favorite music all the time and free. I just downloaded some brittany spears, googoo dolls and, queen stuff in just a couple of minutes.( Hey I just realised I could have done it all simultaneously and it would have been faster). So does anybody know of a good player and do they have a digital output? Does anyone even make a rack mount type player or just cheap portable ones? And where can I buy it? Thanks.