So I buy two t- shirts to help the site out a little and they drop the quality of the broadcast stream to 96kbps. I know, I know - I probably can't hear the difference between 128 and 96 but isn't 128 considered the bare minimum for decent mp3 quality? It's not the the listenership is up huge. Dissapointed!!

Re: Proton Radio is now 96 kbps??? wtf

i know nothing about it, but i can say this...

with the amount of track ripping that goes on its no wonder a station such as proton is dropping the bitrate. they're probably tired of artists complaining about their tracks showing up on mixes all over the world.

but like i've been saying for years... if you dont want your music being ripped off, then tag it with voiceovers. or simply dont play it.

i could be way off but in my mind this sounds about right.

Re: Proton Radio is now 96 kbps??? wtf

that's a shame if it is true, proton has such good music

voiceovers are fine by me, as long as they're done well, I really am grabbing this stuff for my own listening purposes

anyone who cuts up a mix to steal tracks to play is a low life scumbag, imo

Re: Proton Radio is now 96 kbps??? wtf

[url]www.mercurysessions.com[/url] imo

Re: Proton Radio is now 96 kbps??? wtf

[quote=Jibgolly]

with the amount of track ripping that goes on its no wonder a station such as proton is dropping the bitrate. they're probably tired of artists complaining about their tracks showing up on mixes all over the world. .[/quote]

Jib i personnaly think radio sets are "making" dj's into the worldwide ( i hate using this word) stars .. that they are . if it wasn't for spiker would cattaneo be half as well known as he is now . the reputations of dj's are spread by word of mouth and passed on sets ..If it is the artists complaining .. Then they will only hurt their own careers in the future

Re: Proton Radio is now 96 kbps??? wtf

I'm pretty sure it is simply a bandwidth issue, one our guys could probably give us an idea how much of a difference a drop from 128 to 96 would make; I bet it's huge (very few shoutcasts are 128, probably a reason for that)

Re: Proton Radio is now 96 kbps??? wtf

i agree about internet radio turning certain dj's / producers into 'stars' hell i even have a small fan base. what i'm saying is, if you're a producer and you make the next biggest track, keep it to yourself for a while and dont play it on any radio shows. cos there are people out there who will like it, rip it, and play it in their next promo mix. its a shame this happens, but it does. the only way to ensure your track doesnt get ripped off is to NOT PLAY IT, and NOT HAND IT OUT. beyond this its your own stupid fault for it getting leaked.

Re: Proton Radio is now 96 kbps??? wtf

furthermore, anyone who settles for a 128k bitrate track to play is a moron.

Re: Proton Radio is now 96 kbps??? wtf

If you read their forums they mentioned that it's only temporary as they're having hosting issues. Rather than pull the stream altogether they elected to run it at 96k. I listened to the Sharon Schael set and can say that I barely noticed a difference (and I'm usually the loudest to bitch about quality!)

Re: Proton Radio is now 96 kbps??? wtf

so basically i'm Waaaaaaaaayyyyy Offffffffffffffffff

Re: Proton Radio is now 96 kbps??? wtf

theres a shock.

Re: Proton Radio is now 96 kbps??? wtf

shutup immigrant. dont you have a tree to hug or something? :roll:

Re: Proton Radio is now 96 kbps??? wtf

still a good observation though jibby.

bandwidth is extremely expensive, so the monetary drop from 128 - 96 for as many listeners as they have would be significant.

but thats neither here nor there now.. thread locked? lol

Re: Proton Radio is now 96 kbps??? wtf

Jib you made a good point about dj's playing stuff only released on promo .. But why the fuck do they insist on releasing stuff on promo , isn't that only inviting ppl to rip stuff off . Too many times iv'e heard tracks then found out the release date wasn't for another 3-4 months . With current technology labels should wise up it isn't like when things were strictly vinyl . If they got an ounce of sense they should know when a track is class or not . So why allow something to go into public before you can sell it .

White label days are over .

Re: Proton Radio is now 96 kbps??? wtf

well bart, this discussion could go on for days between you and I. we seem to see eye to eye here, but thats for another thread...

the labels can only insist on the tracks NOT being played so many times. but the producers get antsy and want their shit to be heard. so they play it. then they bitch when people rip it off. its a catch 22.

they want/need their tracks to be heard and bought up by labels, but at the same time dont want it getting out before its released.

imo, the only way to fully protect yourself from being ripped off is simply not to play it. and in this case each and every producer should start their own label and release it themselves.

Re: Proton Radio is now 96 kbps??? wtf

Glad to hear it is only temporary.

I can't imagine someone trying to play a 128 mp3 through a club system. Has anyone heard what that sounds like? Must be awful.

Re: Proton Radio is now 96 kbps??? wtf

That's so true about people playing rips off of radio shows being scumbags. I can't believe some people are that heartless.

But the dilemna is really the lack of options when a new track is to be played out in advance ( artists handing out promos). I believe giving full versions of a track to close trusted people is [I]ok[/I] but for the wider handing out have it with a talkover on the track directly ( this is a new artist track promo. please do not play live and do not copy ) but then that makes the track near unplayable.

Re: Proton Radio is now 96 kbps??? wtf

[quote=Jibgolly]so basically i'm Waaaaaaaaayyyyy Offffffffffffffffff[/quote]

you arent that far off...people rip songs all the time. i cant understand why they dont have a few small voiceovers for every track. kiss does a great job of blending them with the music, to the point where i actually ENJOY when the chic whispers "kissssssss" as a beat drops in.