
Does "Mastered for iTunes" matter to music? Ars puts it to the test - shawndumas
http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/2012/04/does-mastered-for-itunes-matter-to-music-ars-puts-it-to-the-test.ars
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andyzweb
There are really only 3 current mastering targets:

Digital: where the audio is received in a digital format and converted by the
listener.

Vinyl: where the audio is etched into a flat disc, inscribed in a modulated
spiral groove.

Analog Radio: where a carrier signal has its frequency or amplitude modulated
by the input signal and has its power increased to transmission levels.

Digital includes, CD-audio (red-book), lossless compressed audio, lossy
compressed audio, satellite radio, "HD radio", DVD-audio, SA-CD, or anything
where the digital to analog converter is at the listener's end.

Vinyl includes...well mono/stereo/quadrophonic phonograph records.

and Analog radio pretty much exclusively includes FM radio.

I have omitted analog magnetic tape since we don't really use audio cassettes
or 8-tracks any more.

Also note: even though the radio station may receive a digital file, a
mastering engineer may have been asked to tailor that file for being broadcast
over FM which could lead to different treatment of the frequency balance,
stereo field, and whatever else the engineer felt necessary.

