[Jenn]

In article ,
MiNe 109 wrote:

In article

et,
Jenn wrote:

http://www.cnn.com/2007/SHOWBIZ/Musi....ap/index.html


High fidelity takes backseat to portability
POSTED: 1:50 p.m. EDT, April 23, 2007
Story Highlights
€ MP3 players now preferred means of listening to music
€ Stereo system, CD sales way down
€ Some audiophiles unhappy, but most people like MP3 devices




SAN FRANCISCO, California (AP) -- Music lovers remember a familiar
advertising image from the past: a man reclined in a chair, head back,
blown away by music from his high-fidelity sound system.
Like the Marlboro Man before him, Maxell's pitchman is now a relic.
With their ability to store vast libraries of music in your pocket,
sleek digital music players have replaced bulky home stereo systems as
the music gear of choice. But the sound quality of digital audio files
is noticeably inferior to that of compact discs and even vinyl.
Are these the final days of hi-fi sound? Judging by the 2 billion songs
downloaded from Apple Inc.'s iTunes service, the ubiquity of white iPod
"ear buds," and the hundreds of thousands of folks file-sharing for
free, the answer is yes.
"In many ways, good enough (sound quality) is fine," said Paul Connolly,
an art installation specialist and longtime audiophile from Sugar Land,
Texas, who's now in the process of digitizing his 2,400 CD collection in
Apple's lossless digital audio format.
"The warmth and the nice distortion that the album had was beautiful,"
he said. "But do I long for the days of albums? No. Do I long for the
days of CDs now that we've gone digital? No. It's a medium."

snip

"I honestly can't really tell the difference between CD, tape and
digital," [MacFarlane] said. "I'd even accept a lower quality as long as
it's
digital and portable."

"Good enough!" the audiophile rallying cry. There's something in there
about music becoming less valued as the quality goes down and the
accessibility goes up. Still, things always change, and who loves last
year's cell phone? On the other hand, I heard a trombone recital that
included Arthur Pryor arrangements played on a narrow-bore instrument
from the twenties.

The perfect instrument for those solos!


I drove my seventies Volvo to work the other day and you'd have thought
I pulled up in a Model T given the reaction.

lol