Types of Subliminal Audio Tapes

Since subl. audio tapes were first sold to the public, there’s been a whole lot different sub. audio products, ranging from cassettes, CDs and now, mp3s.

You might think that there’s really no difference between these subl. audio products, and that it’s just a case of different technologies.

However, you might be surprised to learn that the different types of subliminal audio tapes are not all the same. They each have different advantages and disadvantages, and frankly, some of them don’t even work at all.

Keep on reading and I’ll tell you why.

How Cassette Tapes Started Things Off...

When subl. messages first came up back in the '80s, they were recorded mainly on cassette tapes for obvious reasons. Quite obviously, cassette tapes were the most convenient medium to record music and sounds then.

If you can remember your old science lessons, you may be familiar with how music is recorded on cassette tapes and can skip the next few paragraphs. Otherwise, just read on for the 2-minute summary.

On cassette tapes, music is first recorded on a magnetic strip, which is wound inside a cassette tape. When the cassette tape is played back, the magnetic strip is read by the tape head and converted to sound and music.

To create subl. cassette tapes, the affirmations and foreground noise (or music) are also recorded in the same way, except that the affirmations were at a much lower volume (resulting in a much lower magnetic signature).

The problem with subl. cassette tapes is that the cassettes tend to deteriorate over time. Actually, it’s the same problem affecting all cassette tapes. Over time, the quality of the recordings gets worse, and whatever subl. messages there are on the cassette just gets worse...

...Followed by Subliminal CDs

As technology progressed, subliminal CDs started appearing in the 1990s and the early 2000s. As CDs became the main form of listening to music, companies making subl. message programs also started producing subliminal CDs.

The technology to produce subliminal CDs was radically different from making subliminal cassette tapes.

CDs are made by burning pits or tiny little holes in a plastic disc. These depth and spacing of these little pits can then be read by a laser and converted back into music. Moving from analog to digital, there was none of that magnetic strip stuff (which tends to degenerate and spoil over time).

However, the subl. self-help industry hasn't really taken to CDs. Most still prefer subliminal cassette tapes, and not all offer CDs. Some offer money-back guarantees for their cassette tapes but not the CD versions.

But Be Careful of Subliminal mp3s!

Then came mp3s in the mid-1990s. Mp3 players are so popular now that they’ve become the Walkman of the ‘80s (for those of you who remember what a Walkman is...).

Not surprisingly, over the past year or two, I’ve noticed several companies starting to offer subl. mp3s. However, unlike subliminal CD’s and cassette tapes, I wouldn’t rush out to buy subl. mp3s.

That’s because most subl. mp3s don’t work at all!

Surprised? I’ll explain why.

Unlike digital music (CDs), mp3s are compressed versions of digital music. What this means is that, unlike unaltered and uncompressed digital music such as CDs, mp3s are a "lossy" audio file format, meaning that the mp3 compresses the music file but at the expense of the sound quality.

It does this by analyzing the entire spectrum of a song and then removes all the frequencies that the human ear can’t hear. This removes quite a lot of data (since humans can only hear between 20Hz to 20,000Hz) resulting in a much smaller audio file at the expense of sound quality.

So, you get a very small audio file that you can download onto your mp3 player, but at a poorer sound quality.

That’s why some people, especially the audiophiles, don’t like mp3s. They say that mp3s sound hollow and doesn’t give the richness that you get from listening to the vinyl records.

So, can you see now why the very concept of subliminal mp3s doesn’t work at all?

If you still can’t figure it out, don’t worry, I’m going to explain...

Why Subliminal Mp3s Don't Work!

A lot of websites selling subl. mp3s out there are going to hate me for this. But as I promised, this website is all about giving you all the facts so that you don't get conned or cheated.

To summarize how most subliminal audio tapes or CDs are made; the affirmations are usually recorded about 5 decibels below the foreground sound, so that you can’t hear the affirmations at all.

Since mp3s discard all data and sound that can’t be heard by humans, it also removes all the affirmations and subl. messages. All that’s left is the sound of the foreground, the music or sound of ocean waves.

In other words, the process of creating mp3s destroys the subliminal messages embedded in the sound file.

The only way you can record subl. messages in a digital format so you can listen to it on computer or lap-top is to use a "lossless" format, which is a bit like Zip for audio. As far as I’m aware, there aren’t any subliminal message products recorded in a lossless audio file format such as Monkey’s Audio or FLAC (Free Lossless Audio Codec). Also, WMA also has a lossless version.

So, bottom-line, if you want to use subliminal audio tapes or CDs, you’re better off buying the original subliminal CD’s or cassettes and not trying to record, burn or rip them onto an mp3.

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