[jonnywolfet]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Duggeh /img/forum/go_quote.gif Real Hi-Fi, has and will always be a niche market area compared to consumer grade audio.

this sums up exactly how i feel about this article. cheers Duggeh for getting there first

.

also, it does irritate me when 'audiophiles' refer to fidelity in absolutes, a good 128kbps lame encoding holds its own pretty well, and i seriously doubt that most people who use ipods even get all the data out of said mp3 files when used on their home hifi's or headphones(hell, the ipod is a pretty good source, better than most consumer grade cd players). the average consumer doesn't care about fidelity. even your average music lover doesn't care that much about fidelity. those who want to squeeze that last bit of detail out are, as Duggeh so articulately put, free to do so.

one last thing, IT DOESN'T MATTER that people don't care about fidelity, what is more important is that people keep caring about music, and musicians and studio engineers do their best to put as much effort and work into creating said music, so that music lovers, audiophile and average consumer alike, can continue to experience and enjoy quality musicianship and quality tunes. what i like to see a rant about (a justified) is the quality of popular music put out by the big 4, the current trend of compressing the crap out of everything (please pleas stop it, it makes me cry) and the price of music these days. long live independent record labels and those who make music for the love of music and not for profit. i hope this is where the future lies.
(sorry, didn't mean to rant, its over now)

 

[PiccoloNamek]

Quote:

Do I long for the days of CDs now that we've gone digital?

Say what? I know what he meant, but come on...

 

[Lord Chaos]

I wonder if the compression of recent music is driven by people using Ipods in noisy environments. Compression annoys me, even with current compressors doing a better job than older ones.

I'm tired of articles such as this that reduce all the differences between people to a few phrases. The implication of the article is that the whole world is going to 128k MP3 files, and loving it. While I like the convenience of computer-based audio, I still appreciate quality. Last night I was listening to a CD of Trapezoid, an interesting older folk group, ripped in Apple Lossless to my Powerbook and streamed through the Squeezebox. It's an outstandingly well recorded album. Sounded as if the singer was right there in the room with me. I hope the music industry continues to make at least a few records like this.

 

[splaz]

I don't really get what the article is trying to say, it's kinda jumping all over the place making all these false and misleading statements.

Just thought I'd say though about the people not having 'racks' anymore, I mean I have a stack of components, it's all free stuff at the moment. CD player and power amp etc. How exactly are people with ipods meant to play music on speakers etc. ?

Don't say those crappy "stereo" *cough* BS *cough* $20 ipod speakers. Those are usually just better than mobile phone quality...

What about movies and even some tv shows as well as that is often another area where people do want hi-fi ?

Going to watch movies with that killer ipod video setup are you... ?

Well I've had my rant, read what duggeh said, he sums it up quite well.

Quote:

Say what? I know what he meant, but come on...

That's gold.

 

[Inkmo]

x2 Duggeh.

Carl: Re: tapes and midfi. Eric said 'midfi'. A souped up Nakamichi deck is hardly midfi.

Also, I personally prefer the quality of my CD deck to hearing the same album on my turntable. As far as I can hear, a more even balance and less distortion from the CD deck (but I'm still fiddling with my new cart's alignment. I still don't expect it to be perfect...) However, I prefer my turntable because it's fun. Also, I have a lot of stuff on vinyl that I'll never find on CD, like several all wurlitzer organ LPs.

 

[Jeff Guidry]

The ubiquity of the IPod and the reduction in sound quality from hi-fi is just an outcropping of our interconnected, mobile society. People just want some background noise, a few minutes of entertainment, before they dash off to some other place to do some other thing. Let's face it, much of the music that is being sold on ITunes is not stuff you need to sit down and really reflect on. It's just ear candy, and doesn't need to have every bit of its bits represented during playback. High quality recordings and playback equipment will always be demanded by people for whom the listening experience is more sequestered and meditative, or for whom the playback is an event in itself, rather than only one part of an overal experience.

Plus, you don't really need the entire sine wave as produced by the artist to have a good listening experience. You need it to have an "perfect" listening experience, and for most people, perfect is too much; "good" is good enough. How you define "good" determines how much or little of the original sine wave you need to have a good time.......

 

[DocHamm]

Another typical "digital life" article. A peddling of what some want it to become faster than a speeding bullet, assuming the rest of the people are on the same page, but ergo haven't a clue about reality. To say the XX% of the public is purchasing digital music, you first have to prove XX% of the public even owns a computer. News flash! Not everyone owns a computer, and no, it's not just the senior citizens.

This article doesn't surprise me at all. It's marketing. Period. I especially love the part about not being able to tell the difference between tape, vinyl and digital. I had to go get my water-tight boots out for that one! Anyone who has grown up in the vinyl age knows what "snap-crackle-pop" means, and it's not a cereal. Reel-to-reel, 4-track and 8-track... all respectable, all functional for their time. Cassette even better sine you could stick it in your pocket. When someone says, "hiss", I bet tape comes to mind for the "vintage" folks out there and not the sound a cat makes.

Seriously, digital is changing everything, including music, but these things don't happen overnight. The advent of "affordable" personal computers has certainly seen the digitization of many things. You've got cameras, video, books, etc,. Have we become a paperless environment? A quick look at some executive's desk will prove how "paper-full" things have remained.

Music is no different than the rest of the "digitization" process. Everntually it may become the only form, but not for some time. Not until more of the people can access it, afford it, and approve of it. Just ask the guy who said the credit card would replace paper money before the 21st century.

My favorite is the one computer guru who wrote an article about five years ago saying broadband is dead and the public will never buy it. Where are my boots?

In response to the "return of vinyl" and "declining CD sales" threads, read this article.

PS: Jeff... I love that avatar. Really appropriate here!

 

[vagarach]

Bah, humbug I say. Has the journalist (article could have been written by a machine, it was far too cookie-cutter and small-town local paper quality) read about the deal between Apple (one could say the proponent of this 'thousands of songs in slim device' movement) and EMI? They're charging more money for higher quality (and a side-issue here, lack of DRM) files. Clearly then, they see a market for people who want no drm and also want higher quality.

Also, I'm sure the cost of iTunes offering lossless downloads is far less than the cost of a physical store having a dedicated SACD/DVDA selection.

 

[GlendaleViper]

I hope I didn't miss anyone mentioning this, but the article was an advertisement, which would have a LOT to do with the nature of the article itself. Now, the question is, who funded it?