Why not mono?

[ferg]

Given the following about podcasts:

-most are mostly talking
-many are just 1 person talking
-most are encoded at bit rates of 64Kbps or below

Why doesn't anyone encode there podcast in mono rather than stereo? It would cut the file size in half, or enable you to double the bit rate while keeping the file size the same. Wouldn't you prefer a better quality mono cast to a lower quality stereo one? This applies to talk only, of course.


Thoughts?

[Ian]

We're in mono, and always have been. Stereo for talk is silly.

[Craig]

It doesn't cut the size in half. If you're encoding your MP3s using constant bitrate (CBR), which you should be to ensure compatibility with the widest range of players, it's the bitrate setting only that determines the size of the file. Choosing mono or stereo will only affect the quality of the sound. However, if you're using the Joint Stereo setting in your encoder, which you should be, the encoder will examine the left and right channels for differences and increase the encoding quality in proportion to how few differences it finds. (Meaning that a mono signal duplicated on both channels in a joint stereo CBR MP3 will be almost identical in quality to the same signal in a mono CBR MP3 and both will be the same size.)

Craig