To anyone who's ever gotten the urge to listen to a song you don't have and then gone straight to YouTube, it should be apparent that YouTube is our generation's all-purpose, instantly accessible jukebox. Unfortunately for us, it seemed that the audio quality of YouTube clips had received a drastic blow when, towards the end of July, the website launched a new audio scheme which starkly altered the sound quality of music clips by heavily truncating their dynamic range. As reported on Wired's Listening Post blog, the move prompted not only frustration from audiophile YouTube users (apparently as much a rare breed as you'd expect), but also user-generated hacks designed to counteract the processing, conspiracy theories that the maneuver was designed to favor already-processed mainstream pop over "properly produced music," and dissent from music gear companies who felt that their capacity to advertise on the site had been compromised.
Thankfully, Listening Post's July 30 story prompted both a typically vague response from YouTube PR ("The vast majority of videos currently benefit from our audio technology, and we are committed to improving that in the future" -- oh, okay) and an actual change in the audio process. Because YouTube kept unprocessed copies of all videos' audio files, they were able to develop a new, far less problematic system which is now in place. Now we can all breathe a sigh of relief that the next time a mid-’90s MTV nostalgia kick infects you with the craving to listen to, say, Ghost Town DJs' "My Boo," it will sound as crisp and glorious as online streaming video usually does!
