what phenomenon is drawn out in the text

• the creation and popularization of the MP3 format.

• the main empirical evidence is the format itself

• it's all of these things: social process, cultural/political-economic shift, etc.

• corporate histories (sony example), scientific research paradigm (perceptual techics), experiment design, technologies, "normality", modes of listening

where is it located?

Western: US/Europe, 20th century

Commerce, Technology, Culture

Historical Trajectory?

specific: history perceptual technics 1920s -

Compression History: can be extended back centuries and into the future: "there will never be a post compression era"

What scales:

micros: ears and models of ears, audio equipment, bits

mess: research practices, paradigms, concepts of listening,

macro: standards, norms, on a social levels, infrastructure

who are the players

industry (many types: traditional commodity and), engineers, research subjects, listeners and users, expert listeners, casual listeners, artists, pirates, file-sharers

last chapter speaks towards changes in relationship between music consumers and the industries that profit from music consumption.