Just a quick note: compressing music does not add more playback time to a CD. The Redbook standard is 74 minutes for a CD, and this can be stretched to 80 minutes, but this has nothing to do with whether the material is compressed or not.
Compressing and processing music is frequently done because of the "loudness wars" fad -- musicians, producers and record companies often want their music compressed because they think it sounds louder that way and stands out.
Compressing and processing music is frequently done because of the "loudness wars" fad -- musicians, producers and record companies often want their music compressed because they think it sounds louder that way and stands out.