(...) Consumers have been ripping and downloading music for more than a decade. It is only recently that the same has been offered to audiophiles. And music servers are just getting popular, whereas the same occurred in 1990s for consumers. (...)
The gains from current hi-res offerings (not counting the gains from better mastering of current hi-res offerings) are so small that they are almost pointless in my view, leaving the future of audiophile digital right where the future of audiophile analog is: in better recordings, better masters, better speakers and better environmental acoustics.
Tim
(...) leaving the future of audiophile digital right where the future of audiophile analog is: in better recordings, better masters, better speakers and better environmental acoustics.
Tim
I'll cast my vote for Tim on this issue. "Cloud" servers may be part of the equation but in my opinion, higher Rez than 192/24 won't happen on any reasonable scale. Our best hope, as Tim noted, is better recording, mixing, mastering.
Do you know of any statistics on the sales of downloaded music versus CDs in 2010?
I'll cast my vote for Tim on this issue. "Cloud" servers may be part of the equation but in my opinion, higher Rez than 192/24 won't happen on any reasonable scale. Our best hope, as Tim noted, is better recording, mixing, mastering.
If better recording, mixing, and mastering is your "best hope" for digital, the future of digital is very dim. I think there will be big improvements in both software and hardware and there needs to be IMO. We have 1950s-1960s jazz music that was recorded, mixed, and mastered at an incredibly high level and I would love to hear digital be able to replicate the sound captured on those master tapes. I wouldn't sit around and wait for high-rez cloud music to come streaming my way. If it ever does, it will probably be "streaming for the masses" and probably won't be any better than the crap you get from your cable tv music channels.
For the US, see the RIAA site at
http://www.riaa.com/keystatistics.php?content_selector=2008-2009-U.S-Shipment-Numbers
Some numbers from the 2010 shipments report:
dollar value of downloads - $ 2,238.1 Million, up 10% from 2009.
dollar value of physical media - $ 3,518.5 Million, down 19.6% from 2009.
dollar value of digital performance royalties - $ 249.2 Million, up 60.3%
(note that this value is royalties rather than sales or subscription fees.)
Bill
This is where we disagree, Mark, and where my optimism comes into play. I think digital is capable of replicating the sound of those masters right now. I'll take it a step further -- I think Redbook is capable of exceeding the sound of those masters right now and I have examples in my collection that do it. They are, however, exceedingly rare, which is why I believe the key is better recording and mastering. Does that mean that digital can't get better? Not at all. But it means that currently, digital's capabilities are rarely being used, so....back to recording and mastering. YMMV.
Tim
Coming late into this thread . I think the future of innovation in this area is clear. It will follow the path of what consumers will do! Look at digital downloads. Consumers have been ripping and downloading music for more than a decade. It is only recently that the same has been offered to audiophiles. And music servers are just getting popular, whereas the same occurred in 1990s for consumers.
By the same token, the consumer is moving on to cloud storage and on-demand streaming of all music in the world (with ads or subscription fees). With so many connected devices and the hassle of syncing, the music is moving to centralized storage and streamed. Ultimately if this is all about music, then this is the model we all need to move to.
The ideal device then has a high quality DAC at one end (or part of a processor) and a cellular connection at the other end. Why cellular? Because it can be pre-provisioned when you buy the device with no configuration in the home. This is the key to success of Kindle with its built-in network that is transparent to users.
Barriers are many. For one, there is just not enough of a market for someone to do any of this. All we can hope is someone at an existing cloud service like google waking up and wanting to do this "just because." Cellular networks are too slow and too expensive for this kind of use. So land line will need to be used.
Tim-What examples do you have in your CD collection that replicate what the analog masters sound like? And further, how would you know since you have no analog playback gear in your system to compare the formats?
How would i know? I've recorded, Mark, and listened to the playback for hours on end, as critically as you only can when it's your own work and every flaw digs in under your skin and itches. I know you won't believe this...such is life...but I know exactly what really good, fresh, analog tape sounds like -- not a second or third generation copy, or the copy's vinyl shadow -- and I know it playing back my own voice and my own instruments.
And I know what really good redbook digital sounds like, because I have some of it. Examples of redbook cds that sound as good as any classic analog recording? Give Gershwin's World a try. Play "Sex Kils" off of Joni Mitchell's Travelogue . Crank it up. Hold on to your hat.
Do they replicate analog? I doubt either were ever "analog" in the first place. Replicate? Get yourself a really good converter and ripping software, rip some of your best vinyl to digital. AB it blind. Get back to me. It'll even "replicate" the noise.
Tim
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