I would like to explain for people using the download version of LifeFlow why I have chosen to use joint stereo mode.
When anyone asks questions like "Why joint stereo mode? Why not lossless option?" they may be falling for some common misinformation regarding mp3 formatting that you will find all over the web, namely, that joint stereo always results in Left/Right channel mixing.
When converting from wav files you can choose full stereo or joint stereo. A common myth is that full stereo is a better sound conversion but when you're converting to a compression format such as mp3 full stereo gives a more distorted playback.
Beyond that, the term "joint stereo" is something of a misnomer in that it implies there is a mixing of the Left and Right stereo channels.
Under that heading there are actually two different encoding formats, Intensity Stereo and Mid/Side or "M/S Stereo". Of these two, only intensity stereo mixes the L/R channel information. Intensity stereo was designed to improve the playback quality of tracks 96kbps or less. Encoding a track with a higher bit rate than 96kbps in intensity stereo does give you progressively poorer quality sound reproduction and there is drift between the L/R channels.
However, with the exception of one older encoder called "Xing", virtually all of the current generation of sound encoders automatically encode in M/S stereo if you select a conversion bitrate higher than 96kbps, and M/S stereo does not result in sound drift or degraded sound reproduction, especially at a bitrate as high as the 192kbps that the LifeFlow tracks have been converted to.
That's why there is no technical necessity to change the formatting from mp3. I would also add, that the vast majority of people do not have the software to be able to play back files encoded in FLAC or some of these other so called "lossless" file formats.
Be assured, the LifeFlow downloadable series will bring the same benefits as the physcial CD's do.
Michael
