Sony dude says people don't care about audio quality

WHAT THEY DON’T KNOW WON’T HURT ’EM: But not everyone in the muasic biz shares Iovine’s passion. Shawn Layden, COO of Sony Network Entertainment, which last week launched the Qriocity service in the U.S., told CNN that most people don't care, or even notice, that their music is low-quality. "The challenges of music right now—I don't think the primary one is a quality issue," he said. "Music lovers worldwide are mostly keen right now on the convenience of access—make it easier for me to have." Qriocity service streams music at 48 kilobits per ssecond—a measly one fifth of the 256 kbps quality of iTunes downloads, which themselves are far from audiophile levels, Layden admitted. But the Sony service uses the latest methods of compression so that the music still sounds good, he insisted. (2/23a)