Music in games

1) I think it’s reasonable to assume that almost all of us support the MP3 compression format for sound. Some of us appreciate being able to buy tracks on iTunes instead of having to buy CDs, while others enjoy downloading music without paying anything. Since it’s very unlikely that in the 21st century, at your young age, you prefer CDs, I’ll just assume that all of us belong to one of the above 2 categories, and thus we are very happy with the MP3 format. However, most artists and production companies probably wish the MP3 format (or any other compression before it) was never created, because it allows for illegal distribution of music, and therefore it reduces their profit. It was very interesting to find out that gaming companies were (and still are) in favor of MP3. That is because it allows their platforms to play more and better audio effects with the limited amount of RAM they have. So not just greedy consumers want MP3s to stick around…
2) In this chapter, Collins mentions that games drive the technologies in the area of sound. I think I agree with this. If it was up to the music production companies, the development of audio quality would have probably ended with the CDs/DVDs. They deliver great quality to the users and great profit to the producers. The gaming industry introduced the need for great quality and small size of audio files, and continues to look for ways to improve the already realistic, interactive, 3D sound effects of their games.