HiFi vs. the Digital Music Revolution



Another really interesting article. I guess I'm not a Hi-Fi kinda person because I really can't tell much difference. Maybe it was too many hard-rock/ hair-metal concerts back in the late 80's and early 90's.

(and you know how many times I read this title as WiFi before realizing it was HiFi?). :)


When Hi-Fi Meets the IPod 
Story location: http://www.wired.com/news/technology/audiophiles/0,2934,68891,00.html

An unlikely confrontation is taking shape, where the seemingly unstoppable iPod is meeting with an immovable object -- the audiophile's love of good old-fashioned vinyl.

It's not yet a dust-up of Mothra-versus-Godzilla proportions. But this showdown between the competing -- some might say incommensurable -- demands of hi-fi audio and portability is beginning to trickle down into the mainstream, with potentially disruptive consequences for online music services such as Apple's iTunes Music Store, and the music industry at large.

While music downloads are unparalleled in convenience, the average sound quality is a poor facsimile of the CDs from whence they came -- and the quality gap is awakening the ears of a generation of music fans who are demanding a better experience, despite the tradeoffs that come with larger file sizes.

This trend is most visible in surging LP sales, which belie the notion that the market for vinyl has been dead for years.

A majority of new releases are still printed on vinyl. And many of the same kids who illegally download music for free will actually purchase the LP because that quality can't be found anywhere else.

According to the RIAA, vinyl's percentage of overall sales doubled in 2004, grossing $110 million over 2000's $72 million. This growth came at a time when overall music sales dropped from $14.4 billion to $12.2 billion.

Vinyl has long been the go-to format for audiophiles. Often described as having a warmer sound than CDs, the quality of vinyl that people often try to put their finger on is its ability to capture the feeling of a live performance. Vinyl isn't exactly more 'clear' -- the frequent, but often avoidable, hisses and pops are actually what turn many people off from records. The appeal is that the recording is alive. Through the thin film of static, it actually feels like the instruments are in the room with you. The record also grows with you, degrading slightly -- but charmingly -- after each listen.

"There's something emotionally connected to vinyl," said Heather Marie, a local musician who works at the San Francisco branch of Amoeba Music, the country's largest independent record store. "The experience, the memory, holding it and looking at the art work. It's a visual and timeless feeling."

In another sign of the trend, audiophile communities are beginning to spring up online, made up of people willing to sit through long downloads to preserve the original recording quality, like EtreeWiki.

In addition, a commercial download service called MusicGiants launched earlier this year, offering big downloads (each song averages 25 MB) in so-called lossless music format that's equivalent in quality to a CD.

MusicGiants CEO Scott Bahneman, envisions a world where "you're able to buy one hi-fidelity file online for home use, create versions of variable bitrates and then transport them to a variety of different locations."

For example, Bahneman said hi-fi manufacturer Harman International's recent purchase of PhatNoise, a company that makes digital car-stereo system, signals a shift towards much higher fidelity in autos.

There are also several new hi-fi formats aiming to match the vinyl experience, such as DVD Audio, or DVD-A, DualDisc and Super Audio CDs, or SACDs.

But despite their undisputed high fidelity, they have largely been market failures.

Sales of these formats have suffered because they need specialized players, and limits on copying make it difficult to transfer tracks from a disc to a computer or a portable player.

Bahneman said his company is already starting to re-master around 75 SACD and DVD-A titles for release online early next year. The files will be encoded in Windows Media Audio Lossless format, so any Windows XP computer will be able to play them. They will be larger files and sold at a premium, he said.

If the current crop of high-res formats has languished in the market, the technology behind them could yet break out to form the basis of new, portable hi-fi formats that can be ripped and burned much like MP3s, only the files are much larger.

Super Audio seems the best bet for a new, high-resolution digital-audio standard. It has sampling rates up to 60 times that of current CDs, and is compatible with popular 5.1 channel surround sound, used in many home theater systems.

But Sony's support of SACDs has been limp at best -- the company inexplicably favors its mediocre DualDisc format. Additionally, all three formats are protected with ironclad DRM software that prevents burning or uploading.

"The record industry is so driven by digital rights management," said John Atkinson, editor of Stereophile magazine, "they would rather cripple (SACD's) transfer success and not get their money back than have a more transferable medium with a chance of commercial success."

Atkinson added, "I have literally bought tens of thousands of CDs and albums over the years, and the record companies treat me like a pirate, without doing anything to stop actual pirates."

Posted: Wed - December 7, 2005 at 09:50 AM           |

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