Music is enjoyable even when the recording isn't perfect. I have over 10k mp3s and several hundred records (maybe 1000? who knows). I buy new and used vinyl, and digital formats. I am happiest when I can buy a vinyl that comes with a digital download. A great deal of the pleasure of listening to vinyl is the physical aesthetic. Seeing the strobe on the side of the turntable setting out the sleeve for others to read, enjoying the art and liner notes. Do records sound better? I think they make a big difference in some recordings, not much for others, but I don't think the essence of a performance is destroyed by a marginal loss of sound quality. Music is much more than the perfection of the document is recorded on, nit pickers almost lose the point of why music should be listened to. If streaming is our future than kill me now. There is no way any single streaming source will ever have all the variety in an easily accessible form that I have with my digital library. Local, foreign and obscure artists and some unique live recordings will never put together into a single comprehensive catalog that meets my tastes. I will always own my music, by hook or by crook if necessary.
I think the best case scenario would be to own all your music, but be able to stream it to yourself wherever you were. You can probably do this already, actually. But, rather than keep everything in the cloud (what a stupid name for someone else's harddrive), I'd like to have my own server.
1) Active Listening. The conscious choice to sit and listen. We put a record on, sit in a chair, and listen. Usually from speakers - maybe some people prefer headphones. But it is a choice. Sitting and listening is the activity. Maybe you looked at liner notes and artwork, but the sensory experience of listening is the primary activity. 2) Passive listening. The casual choice to listen while doing something else. It's music in the background while you clean, read, work out, rest, etc. Technology has made passive listening so inexpensive and convenient. It is possible to listen to relatively high quality music 24 hours a day. The thing that has been on my mind is, does anyone actively listen anymore? I do, but it is a lot less frequent than it used to be. That has a lot to do with family and employment responsibilities, but I still find it interesting to think about. Has the convenience of listening taken away from the experience of listening to music? It's arguable that the same concept applies to films as well. Because of the developments in home theater technology and DVRs, people may not sit down and watch a film (or TV show) in its entirety. It's easy to pause it and grab a snack, go to the bathroom, or even resume it the next day, as opposed to "being stuck" watching in a theater. Is it a good thing? is it a bad thing? I know the author was really talking about analog vs. digital... but at some point it needs to be acknowledged that a large portion of the population can't even discern between a decent MP3 or AAC encoding and a CD or even vinyl, let alone 16-bit vs. 24-bit sound. And an even smaller portion of the population cares. -end ramble
The reason I posted the article to begin with was not because I'm a die hard audio-file (my record player sucks and I have crappy speakers) it was out of appreciation for the analogy describing the way digital sound is captured compared to analog. I liked the example of listening to someone speak and imagining that every 5th word or so would be missing. -I'm certain its an over simplification of the process but it still hit home for me. Happy listening to you, whether it be active or passive!
On that tag, the type of music I would choose to actively or passively listen to probably differs too. -So in that case, the medium could be changing our tastes in music. I've seen tests where audiofiles couldn't tell the difference between music sent over very expensive Monster cables compared to wire hangers. Having some physics knowledge, it's easy to understand why. There must be some independent tests regarding these different formats, hopefully informed by some knowledge of our auditory anatomy. I'm curious now. I'll try to find what I can.