Theloveman:
Actually, marketers discovered convenience's marketability with the cassette tape. Audiophiles from that era forget the advice that we were given at the time. We were actually advised to make cassette copies of LP's for most of our listenting, as LP's scratched too easily. LP's were to be saved for those special critical listening sessions.
It was just that cassettes, especially prerecorded ones, were just so bad. Every LP purchase was essentially a double one. You purchased both the LP and a high quality blank tape for the backup copy.
Cassettes though still kept alive the idea of audio as a hobby.
If CD's represent anything, it is the end of audio as a hobby. The technology of sound medium is what the story is, not the equipment. CD's and technology, in general, also represented women taking more of an interest in audio. Prior to that there would be audio magazine articles on how women's hearing was skewed to the treble end of the spectrum and men preferred the lower registers. Women who dig technology, the convenience it brings, and the integration into the home are a major group now for manufacturers to satisfy.
I left LP's behind quite awhile ago, because they weren't worth the bother. I really like turntables, not the warped, noisy medium that was played on them. I do miss the pageantry of buying and unwrapping a new album though and looking at the artwork, etc. CD's don't engender any real satisfaction in that regard.
Be well,
Rich
Actually, marketers discovered convenience's marketability with the cassette tape. Audiophiles from that era forget the advice that we were given at the time. We were actually advised to make cassette copies of LP's for most of our listenting, as LP's scratched too easily. LP's were to be saved for those special critical listening sessions.
It was just that cassettes, especially prerecorded ones, were just so bad. Every LP purchase was essentially a double one. You purchased both the LP and a high quality blank tape for the backup copy.
Cassettes though still kept alive the idea of audio as a hobby.
If CD's represent anything, it is the end of audio as a hobby. The technology of sound medium is what the story is, not the equipment. CD's and technology, in general, also represented women taking more of an interest in audio. Prior to that there would be audio magazine articles on how women's hearing was skewed to the treble end of the spectrum and men preferred the lower registers. Women who dig technology, the convenience it brings, and the integration into the home are a major group now for manufacturers to satisfy.
I left LP's behind quite awhile ago, because they weren't worth the bother. I really like turntables, not the warped, noisy medium that was played on them. I do miss the pageantry of buying and unwrapping a new album though and looking at the artwork, etc. CD's don't engender any real satisfaction in that regard.
Be well,
Rich
