MP3 Insider 116: Web radio lives on

House of Representatives passes a bill that will protect Webcasters from royalty-related death for at least a bit longer. Also, Donald and Jasmine review the Iriver Spinn, Archos 5, and Sony B-Series Walkman.
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Episode 116

Pandora's safe...for now: http://blog.wired.com/music/2008/09/house-of-repres.html

Iriver Spinn reviewed: http://reviews.cnet.com/portable-video-players-pvps/iriver-spinn-4gb/4505-6499_7-32815502.html

Archos 5 reviewed: http://reviews.cnet.com/portable-video-players-pvps/archos-5-250gb/4505-6499_7-33226904.html

Sony B-Series reviewed: http://reviews.cnet.com/mp3-players/sony-nwz-b135f-walkman/4505-6490_7-33270795.html

Best earbuds for less than $100: http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-10052158-1.html

In [Buzz Out Loud] Episode 816 I heard an interesting discussion about codecs, CDs and audio quality in general. As an audiophile, I, like Brian Cooley (and presumably Jason) hate MP33/AAC/WMA files for their quality-reducing compression. Yes, MP3 files can be as good as 320Kbps but .WAV files are 1,411Kbps. Therefore, my question is this: can we just rip our music (we being CD buyers, a dying breed, I know) in .WAV format and maintain the quality we get from the actual CD? This prompts a supplementary question: Will playing .wav files on an iPod or Zune (or other hard-drive based portable PMP) sound as good as playing CDs on a reasonably good CD player, or are they inherently incapable of decent audio playback? --Mark