If I recall correctly, the whole subliminal message issue arose from an experiment/test which claimed that when pictures of soda and popcorn were inserted as single frames into a film, sales of popcorn and soda increased.
However, the results could not be duplicated by others.
My friend had a book back in the 70s about subliminal advertising which claimed that various images were inserted into product logos, or on products themselves. So exposure to the image wasn’t fleeting/momentary but persistent although designed not to be readily apparent to the consumer. There was very little data to indicate that these efforts actually increased sales.
I know there have been efforts to determine whether people actually pick up on backwards messages in music- they don’t. However, it is great marketing hype, because when the word gets out folks want to get a hold of the product and check it out for themselves. It’s not about sending a message subliminally, it’s about getting folks attention by creating a buzz.
As others have indicated, you don’t understand binary when you see it directly. We don’t hear binary, we hear analog- sound waves. Digitally recorded music is converted by your device into an analog signal to the speakers which transform the signal into sound waves (pressure changes in air). Now, it’s possible that digital recording could include coding to play out an analog message, or a morse code type series of pulses. But based on the lack of evidence for visual or other auditory subliminal messages actually having any effect on people, I wouldn’t worry about it.
