----- Original Message -----
From: "Tom Fine" <tflists@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Hi Steven:
There's a whole generation that's more than comfortable with storing all
information on hard drives.
Talk to anyone about 25 or younger.
I hate to say this, but I think 5" commercially-produced discs (audio and
video) have a ticking
clock. Maybe 10 years, plus/minus a few years. I really do hate to say
this, by the way, because I
still prefer listening attentively in a chair over big speakers with a CD
in the player (or a really
good LP or tape). And I prefer to watch movies on a big video screen with
5 channels of sound from a
DVD. Judging from where download-only quality has been thusfar, I am not
confident the future
releases will be high resolution enough to afford my enjoyments.
Well, for the next 10 to 20 years (or until we all finally get too old
to cut the mustard) the world, or at least the "western" world, will
still be run by and for we "baby boomers." Why? Because we have most
of the money, for one thing! And even though some of us are "computer-
savvy," many of us aren't...we own computers, know how to use a
couple of our favourite applications (and, often, how to find "dirty
pictures" on the net...) but, like many of our various tools, we've
never bothered to learn a lot about what they CAN do!
As well, many of those "under 25" folks are more interested in
figuring out where/how to STEAL recorded music (either to make a
social point, or so they figure...or because they're still minimally
employed, if at all, and don't have any spendin' cash...). The
record industry still puts out what it assumes they might want
(more likely out of habit than anything)...but in the first place,
"pop music" is totally fragmented as a genre, so there isn't one
single overwhelming best-seller music style...and in the second
place they put a lot more effort in LISTENING to pop music (via
radio, including satellite services...via the Internet...and via
deejays at their hangouts...) than buying it!
Now in my own case...for the next 20 years, I'll be happy
with my 40-odd thousand 78's (as long as I can get the N8-3d needles,
anyway) along with whatever I can find on the Internet (especially if
it can be downloaded and saved, so I can play it when I see fit...the
old RCA Victor slogan was "The music you want--when you want it!").
Signal quality isn't a big issue for me...I'm somewhat of a special
case, having lost much of my hearing to either other band members'
guitar amps turned up to far or a couple of head injuries. As well,
unlike most of my ilk, I am totally uninterested in television...old
or new!
So...it's us old f...ogies that are going to be responsible for
much of the record industry's net income, until we're all too old
and deaf and the folks at the nursing home won't let us listen
to music for fear we'll get too excited and have a heart attack.
By that time, science will have figured out how to store information
by nudging a few quanta around, and we'll be able to put every known
bit of music on a device that looks like (and works like, and will
serve as if necessary) a hearing aid...
Steven C. Barr