NPR: Whatever Happened to the Audiophile?

[PhilNYC]

Not anything earthshattering in this article, but at least it's out there in a publication outside of our industry...

http://www.npr.org/2011/03/05/134256592/whatever-happened-to-the-audiophile

[mfsoa]

I know what happened - They started riding their bikes a whole lot and stopped selling audio gear, hosting raves and making the best Salmon known to mankind   

(just kiddin' with you)

[PhilNYC]

Touche...although it has more to do with attention to my kids than anything else...

I will host something once again...

[mfsoa]

No doubt about what's the top priority for a parent...

[rollo]

  We miss you Phil. The Foodie link BTW is awesome. Enjoy your children man you only go around once. When you turn around they are 18. ENJOY every minute and God bless.


charles

[BobM]

Phil who? 

[tmazz]

Enjoy your children man you only go around once. When you turn around they are 18. ENJOY every minute and God bless.


charles

+1

[JLM]

I blame the loss of interest in audio to our society becoming addicted to stimulation.  As the article mentions, very few anymore have the patience to just sit and listen.  We spend bunches of time with music, but it's while driving, reading, working, etc.  But that's not really listening (studying it, soaking it in, basking in the palpability of it, stretching to hear more, closing your eyes to focus better, etc.).

[richidoo]

I blame the loss of interest in audio to our society becoming addicted to stimulation.  As the article mentions, very few anymore have the patience to just sit and listen.  We spend bunches of time with music, but it's while driving, reading, working, etc.  But that's not really listening (studying it, soaking it in, basking in the palpability of it, stretching to hear more, closing your eyes to focus better, etc.).

Or just enjoying the melody harmonies or lyrics for what they are. Todays music is not worth buying a stereo for, when I already have a phone and a car with playback. Quality pop music now is just copying something good from the past. There is no corporate tolerance of the risk of developing new music. Artists can't afford to do it themselves, not while feeding themselves while working day gig. 24/7/365 CBGBs lifestyle is history. New artists are not willing to live that poor. I wasn't.

Music content is the driver of everything. That's why hifi exploded in the 60s-70s. In a word, The Beatles.

[tmazz]

I blame the loss of interest in audio to our society becoming addicted to stimulation.  As the article mentions, very few anymore have the patience to just sit and listen.  We spend bunches of time with music, but it's while driving, reading, working, etc.  But that's not really listening (studying it, soaking it in, basking in the palpability of it, stretching to hear more, closing your eyes to focus better, etc.).

It is not just the stimulation issued that is at play here, although I agree that it is part of it. Let's keep in mind that going back 30 years. There was no internet, video games were very crude and there use was basically limited to kids & teenagers. VCRs and the Videodiscs were brand new technologies and economies of scale had not been reached yet so both the hardware and the software was still very expensive (e.g. Home Theater was not yet a viable market). So video in the home was basically limited to real time viewing of broadcasted shows (over the air or on cable was. And 25" was considered a huge screen to watch it on.  What all this added up to was that recorded music was one of the premier forms of home entertainment. Not to mention how many more people now have to hold down two jobs or have both spouses work in order to make ends meet? So not only do people in 2011 tend to have less free time in 2011 as compared to 1980, there are many more activities competing for that time. Given all this it does not surprise me at all that people spend less time now in focused listening session. And if people spend less time doing serious listening they will be less likely to devote commit the resources necessary to set up a high end audio system (i.e. money, space and the time to configure and maintain a system.).

And the audio is not the only place that consumers have chosen to accept lower quality for the sake of speed and convenience. if 20 years ago any of the Bell System companies provided phone service that was 1/2 as bad as today's wireless service in terms of calls that did not do through, calls hat got dropped in the middle and poor sound quality, that company would have been facing millions of dollars in fines from the state regulators. But today that level of service is widely accepted as part of the price you pay for mobility. Portability is the priority of the times and consumers have decided that the best quality is not always the most important thing and have shown an increasing willingness to trade a certain amount of absolute quality for an increase in availability and usability. For example, why is it that some of the same people who consider DSL an obsolete technology and its bandwidth completely inadequate for home internet service call a cell phone with a wireless data speed that is half of what they can get on DSL a breakthrough product? Because they are willing to give up speed for instant access on their hip. (And these are the same people that are all going to start dropping dead of stress induced heart attacks because they don't know how to relax.) It is all just a sign of the times.

[Barry (NJ)]

An interesting reply...

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13645_3-20040143-47.html

[rollo]

An interesting reply...

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13645_3-20040143-47.html

  Good find Barry, An excellent reply to that article. NPR is clueless about most everything and they get taxpayer money besides. Juan Williams anyone ?


charles