The disappointment in digital music (aka MP3 files) is that there are no sound-related upgrades.
Hooked up to my stereo (to use that quaint term), each of these sounds identical:
* Portable CD player capable of handling MP3s.
* Another MP3-ized CD player, this one being skip-free.
* MP3 files played on my desktop computer.
* MP3 files played on my notebook computer.
* MP3s played on my Sony Clie PDA
* MP3s played on the InnoPlus's 20GB PhotoTainer portable entertainment unit
* My son's first MP3 player, a Creative Nomad
* My daugher's MP3-ized CD player
* My other daughter's MP3 player from Samsung
* My son's second MP3 player, after the first was lost in the car accident, from iRiver.
* MP3s played on the HP iPaq PDA
* My recently-purchased Creative Zen Micro with 5GB drive
I realized there was no thrill in the Zen Micro because, well, it's no difference from the previous eleven MP3 devices. It all sounds perfect -- perfectly dull.
How unlike the old days of analogue music, when LPs were superior to cassettes were superior to 8-Tracks. And when Japanese presssings were superior to European pressings were superior to North American pressings.
(I tell my kids records are superior to CDs, because records have music on both sides of the disc.)
And when upgrading your stereo meant getting better sound. In my case that was upgrading from a portable casette recorder to a Marantz 2225 Stereophonic Receiver to a discrete component system consisting of Carver Cube power amp (400W/ch, peaking at 800W/ch), Yamaha pre-amp with parametric tone controls, Denon semi-automatic turntable, Hitachi casette deck (with beautiful analog guages), and Audio Analyst speakers (just two).
Comments