BAASnotes.com – Bay Area Audiophile Society

Say Goodbye to the ‘Audiophile’

Well, the CNET Blogs recently published yet-another article describing the extinction of the high fidelity audio industry (click here).

In that article and its comments, many reasons for the imminent demise were cited – with the iPod portrayed as the #1 assassin.

FWIW, here’s my version of the decline:

• It begins with the record companies and RIAA joining Microsoft in “missing the internet boom.” Response to downloads = lawsuits & DRM. Opinion on jewel-boxed (yuck) CD’s = perfect forever. Huh?
• The next gremlin was the poor broadband coverage in America (and the world). This makes downloading SLOOOOWWW. The market’s response was massive ripping to MP3. Would it surprise you to learn that many 30-year-olds have never purchased a CD?
• And finally came the final ingredient of the perfect storm: the mighty iPod. It’s limited memory made compression even more vital. And its hyper-mobility meant that listening was done primarily in distracted staes (during workouts) and/or noisy environments (city streets).

Put all of these together and stir for a generation or so, and we have a listening public where 128kbps is ‘good enough.’

And how about the dastardly contribution of the vendors? After all, aren’t $6K cables a sign of Caligulic excess? Come on. Who cares? There’s plenty of great hi fi gear that’s affordable, fun, and 44kbps or better. Think Oppo, t-amps, and HornShoppes/Ushers/JohnBlue’s/etc….