The IPod Generation

March 4, 2007

Last year our daughter got an IPod. It started with a generic MP3 player and eventually, she got the current fashion in personal musical entertainment. The age of music downloads has pretty much become the main stream of the music business. The previous generation was the Sony Walkman generation and before that it was portable radios. While the technology for enjoying the musical experience has evolved along with the current trends in music, I don’t believe the quality of music on these personal playback devices have significantly improved. The ease of accessing musical selections has improved, but sound quality has actually become worst. The downward spiral of recorded music started with the introduction of digital audio, or the CD revolution. Back then, there was much heated debate over vinyl or CD sound quality. In time, a tiny amount of vinyl records are still produced to this day. The vast majority of recordings were released on CD to this day with downloaded music moving in to take its place as the primary musical distribution. The CD was a Sony / Phillips joint venture and according to marketing research at the time, they discovered that it was the rainbow of colors from the read back side of the disc would be the key factor to its market success. The ease of storage and track selection was other factors that made CDs become the primary choice. As for sound quality, most early digital recordings were AWFUL! Much of the recording industry started from ground up when digital recording became the format of choice. Sony was giving away, “Perfect Sound Forever!” Tee Shirts at the Consumer Electronics Show back then. Most CD users now know they can skip and are far from being problem free. High quality vinyl records on a high quality playback system sound better than even the very best CD player. Most music listeners never have a chance to hear just how good those vinyl records can sound. There have been a few attempts to improve the sound digital recordings, SACD, DVD-audio and now Blue ray audio. None have been successful in the market place for a host of reasons. One of the primary ones is distribution, very few music stores will be willing to double stock two versions of a given release and the other is playback compatibility, copy guard and money greedy corporations are among other reasons why these alternative formats died. MP3 is another step backward for sound quality relative to CDs.

I believe most music listeners today don’t have a good point of reference of what good sound is. Every live musical performance includes a PA system that is always WAY TOO LOUD. At nearly every one of these performances, I end up with ear plugs to make the loudness of the performance bearable. What a way to experience a, “live concert.” If this is the point of reference most music fans have today, it’s no wonder why the poor sound quality of MP3 is so well accepted. These high sound levels are bad for hearing over time. It would not surprise me if the current generation will need hearing aids at an early age. Invest now in hearing aid companies as I do believe they will be doing well in the near future.

The playback system of choice these days is the computer; many individuals listen to music from their computers which are not the ideal way to hear music. It is fine for background and getting an idea of what the music might sound like, but it is far from what the musical experience can offer.

Home HiFi components have not really improved in sound quality in many years. Few really know how good a music system can sound. In this day of internet sales with no guidance for setting up a serious sound system, many listeners do not get the best possible sound quality from the components they currently own. With all the factors going against better recorded music sound these days, the future for a better musical experience is not good.