By: Sherry Rashad
Despite of the issue of copyright infringement dogging it since its inception, the concept really has credible green / environmentally friendly credentials because no physical media is transported - often thousands of miles - between point A and point B which generates a somewhat sizable carbon footprint. As the digital download music via the Internet – formerly the magic bullet of music piracy - evolved into a legitimate arm of the embattled music industry. Professional musicians of the mainstream pop / rock persuasion can finally reclaim their bread and butter that was once stolen from them by illegal peer-to-peer sharing of copyrighted media sites like NAPSTER.
But when it comes to sound quality, I’m sorry to say that the digital downloadable music industry has left me wanting for a better alternative - sound quality wise. Having the good fortune of acquiring notable Joni Mitchell and Steely Dan vinyl LPs – touted as the exemplars of sound quality when it comes to 1970’s studio recordings – it seems that their downloaded incarnations are nothing more than a digitized pale shadow versions of these recordings. My 500 US dollar i-Pod – bought out of curiosity – can never match the vinyl-like levels of sound quality that my 100 US dollar MSRP Pioneer universal player being used as a CD transport for my trusty-but-rusty Audio Alchemy DAC – never mind my second-hand Rega Planar 3 bought in the 1990s.
Music piracy and illegal digital music filesharing on the Internet never would have became the best thing since free money if the music industry teamed up with the hi-fi industry in promoting sound quality awareness to the general public. Remember that it is easier to control sound quality from the production side of things – i.e. the music industry’s own CD, DVD Audio / Video and SACD pressing plants. I mean when does a petty music pirates ever concerned themselves with sound quality? When we entered the new millennium almost a decade ago, the introduction of high-resolution digital music formats that promised true better-than-vinyl-LP sound quality became stillborn in terms of sales. Basing on the current state of the music industry, I think sound quality – to them – is something that belongs in the past. Like those garish BORON gasoline adverts from the 1960’s.
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6 comments:
Sound quality-wise, digital music downloads - even legitimate ones owned by the major labels - have yet to equal the sound quality of an entry-level NAD CD player ( the 250 US dollar NAD 210 CD player?) circa 1995.
On the other side of 21st Century digitalia, it's just too bad that no record company has reissued Lunachicks or Veruca Salt albums in either 24-bit 192 Khz DVD-Audio or SACD. I think for the ultimate - yet not too expensive - sound quality, you still have to start your own Punk Rock / garage band like my older audio-buddies had done during the past 25 years or so.
P.S. check out my AN214 IC audio amplifier blog at http://the-an214-world.blogspot.com
I wonder if Steve Jobs at Apple - or his "engineer" who designed the i-Pod ever heard of the original Scotch 3M three-channel master tape of Miles Davis' Kind of Blue album. Probably the best studio recording - in sound quality terms - of the 20th Century.
Sometimes I have sleepless nights wondering if the new generation of teens ever gives a rat's ass about sound quality anymore. Some music download savvy acquaintances of mine say sound quality has improved over the years, but sadly, those 250 US dollar MSRP NAD CD players from 1995 still sound better than any i-Pod filled with downloaded music with audiophile credentials circa 2009.
My point exactly. One should not charge anyone of piracy for reproducing inferior quality copies. Industries produces and sells blu-rays, DVDs and CDs, not VCDs, amateur footages taken with handcams on cinemas and mp3 files.
My point exactly. One should not charge anyone of piracy for reproducing inferior quality copies. Industries produces and sells blu-rays, DVDs and CDs, not VCDs, amateur footages taken with handcams on cinemas and mp3 files.
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