Net Music Firms Struggle

Jim Westrich westrich at miser.umass.edu
Wed Aug 4 14:52:18 PDT 1999


At 05:17 PM 8/4/99 , you wrote:
>Jim Westrich wrote:
> >
> > I have long been very supportive of the digitalizing of music
>
>Why? Analogue is so much better. The conversion of analogue music into
>010101 digital language really omits a lot.

Well, this is not what I meant exactly but I do agree many forms of music (especially classical or opera) sound better with the warmer analogue tones. It's just that the equipment necessary to produce quality out of vinyl costs several hundred to several thousand US$. I am currently borrowing a fancy Rotel turntable (so I can make my vinyl into CDs) and am quite impressed with the sounds. But few can afford this turntable or an amp/preamp that would pickup the necessary clarity.

Also, they only sell dance singles on vinyl anymore (I still buy plenty!) but few of these songs benefit much from the warmer sounds. So, unless you are intent on listening to music created in the Vinyl Age (RIP: 1950-1990) you are stuck.

You can buy a cheap portable CD player for $30. The CD captures *nearly* everything. Fine for most and affordable by the masses. And even though Sony record execs are predicting the end of CDs in less than 4 years, they make pretty much everything on CD still.

Now, don't get me started on those crappy minidiscs, there you are much better off with anything analogue. That is also the problem with most digital music (MP3z are a compression format remember and there is a lot of loss).

Peace,

Jim

"How was I to know that gravity and rhythm were linked?" --Dickie Diamond



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