I agree with the record companies. Compression is necessary for the vast majority of consumer listening situations where the quietest sounds would be obscured by ambient sound, such as in outside mp3 player use, or automotive applications and the largest peaks would exceed the capabilites of most similar consumer playback gear. Regression to the mean is a good thing. Audiophiles, generally are a higly vocal population that is but a small sub-set of the buying public. The record companies would surely starve by catering to the high-end set, not that they aren't eating cat food already due to the downloading issues.