I should start a new Thread about this, but I'd certainly be in a very small minority here.
Here goes: this is the first time in the history of recorded music that the pursuit of ever higher fidelity has not been the goal! (Overlooking the dreaded 8-track, audio cassettes and quadrophonic debacles, all of which died off.) SACD, and to a lesser extent, DVD-A, were a huge step in the right direction, but were buried, with honors, by the seeming preference of the music-buying public for convenience over high(er) fidelity!
That convenience trumps quality when it comes to musical fidelity seems heresy to me! For background music lovers, I can understand. But for those many audiophiles among us music lovers, the squashed, lo-fi sound of downloads and MP3s and their ilk is pure blasphemy!
I have been an audiophile since the late 60s, and I have a HUGE stereo set-up, purchased at a huge price (and many before my current one) that gives me hours of aural pleasure almost daily, whether CD, LP, or SACD, as has been the case for many, many years. Nothing beats parking yourself in the "sweet spot" and letting the great music on a great sound system take you away!
Sad to say that I have all but given up on CD/LP shopping in brick and mortar stores, as the selection gets thinner and thinner thanks to downloads and MP3s and ipods and yourpods and blackberries and raspberries and cell phones, and gawd knows what else! I don't own any of 'em, and doubt I ever will.
Glad to say that I have such a huge collection of LPs, CDs and SACDs that I'm pretty much covered in having most all the music I love already in hand - from classical to blues to jazz to rock, and anything and everything inbetween. My tastes are eclectic and widespread, thank goodness!
I also have a HUGE home theatre set-up that cost huge $, and I see these adds for the Bose Wavelength or Waveform or whatever it's called, and I just laugh and cry at the same time. These people have never heard a good, much less GREAT home theatre set-up! Or they certainly wouldn't be so blown away by that simple, silly little box! (That's WAY over-priced, btw!)
It seems to me that going from hi-fidelity, in all its glory, to lo-fi downloads and MP3s is analogous to going from a Les Paul or a Strat thru a Marshall or a Vox to a Sears Silvertone guitar thru a Sears Silvertone combo amp w paper-thin speakers...Surely you can understand that analogy!
End of rant. Not telling anyone what they "should" like, just expressing MY opinion as to the state of recorded music as it exists today for the seemingly ever-growing bulk of music listeners. *whew* and :thwap:
