I have a feeling that many ( most?) of the members here are of the "baby boomer" era or perhaps even a little older. 
Since I am definitely of this group, and since many of this group seem to be VERY set in their ways, I wonder how many of us are
missing a great deal of pleasure and enjoyment from various alternative forms of music and music playback.
The other day an a'phile friend debated with me that the high end as we now know it will probably cease to exist in the next
twenty (20) or so years. I didn't believe this was the case; my argument being that so long as people wanted to hear a more profound
sense of reality of the musical event...then high-end or something very like it would exist. My friend's argument was that since the current
generation of a'philes is primarily from the era mentioned and not so open minded about music, that the younger generation which isn't tied to their "listening style and favorite type of music" and therefore avails themselves of more ways to listen to music....will have no reason to seek out a sense of reality; which will diminish in favor of exposure to even larger amounts of easily accesible music.
The other argument that my friend also used ( and IMHO this was more difficult to rebut) was the fact that as music gets more and more streamed,
and is therefore more easily accessible, that any ritual for listening will likely be seen as a negative and dismissed. ( He specifically mentioned the
aspect of LP cleaning, storage and of the whole LP ritual that one has to undertake to get the best from vinyl).
My first question is can you teach an old dog new tricks, or are we very much set in our ways and unwilling to at least give all formats
and music styles their due ( digital vs. analog....rap vs. classical etc). Secondly, is the younger generation so set in their ways that our hobby will probably die out in the next twenty (20) or so years as my a'phile friend predicts and argues?
Since I am definitely of this group, and since many of this group seem to be VERY set in their ways, I wonder how many of us are
missing a great deal of pleasure and enjoyment from various alternative forms of music and music playback
. The other day an a'phile friend debated with me that the high end as we now know it will probably cease to exist in the next
twenty (20) or so years
. I didn't believe this was the case; my argument being that so long as people wanted to hear a more profound sense of reality of the musical event...then high-end or something very like it would exist. My friend's argument was that since the current
generation of a'philes is primarily from the era mentioned and not so open minded about music, that the younger generation which isn't tied to their "listening style and favorite type of music" and therefore avails themselves of more ways to listen to music....will have no reason to seek out a sense of reality; which will diminish in favor of exposure to even larger amounts of easily accesible music.
The other argument that my friend also used ( and IMHO this was more difficult to rebut) was the fact that as music gets more and more streamed,
and is therefore more easily accessible, that any ritual for listening will likely be seen as a negative and dismissed. ( He specifically mentioned the
aspect of LP cleaning, storage and of the whole LP ritual that one has to undertake to get the best from vinyl).
My first question is can you teach an old dog new tricks, or are we very much set in our ways and unwilling to at least give all formats
and music styles their due ( digital vs. analog....rap vs. classical etc). Secondly, is the younger generation so set in their ways that our hobby will probably die out in the next twenty (20) or so years as my a'phile friend predicts and argues?
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