music – Page 2

Analog versus Digital Sound

When we setup home theaters, we still get asked about the differences between analog sound, such as that from vinyl records, and digital sound, such as that from CDs. While most people are perfectly content with CDs given budget limitations and poor listening environments, analog vinyls will still produce the best sound if you use the most expensive high-end equipment.

Similar discussions occur when comparing solid-state amps with tube amps, and when comparing digital synthesizers and samplers with analog synthesizers.

With the advent of SACDs, even extreme audiophiles can not distinguish between digital samples and the analog vinyl versions of songs. Similarly, modern digital synthesizers such as the Nord Lead are now considered indistinguishable from true analog synthesizers by most musicians.

Gizmodo has an article about audiophile Michael Fremer and the subject of digital versus analog. Their main point is that while most people shouldn’t spend hundreds of thousands on a music theater, it is important that some people are obsessed with having the best listening experience.

After hearing I’m a Bowie fan, Fremer drops into his near limitless stacks and spins a pressing of “Heroes” with part of the title track’s chorus in German. I’m giggling with pleasure at the frankly obscene level of detail I hear (Ich! Ich werde König!), but of course, I’m hearing the pops and crackles that a 30+ year-old record is likely to have. Shouldn’t a $350,000 stereo system be completely free of such impurities?

“It’s like when you go to the symphony, and the old men are coughing-same thing,” Fremer says. Necessary impurities. Reminders of being in the real world.

This 1993 news story from MTV featuring Michael Fremer is still applicable today:

Problems for Pandora and other US Web Radio Stations

August 18, 2008 / Internet, Local DC area

Pandora is a web site that provides streaming music to your computer, your iPhone, and other devices. It creates customized stations based on music you like and if you give a song a “thumbs up” or “thumbs down”. You can click on a song you like to go to Amazon or iTunes in order to purchase it. It’s great for finding new music and it used to be a good business.

But the record companies are afraid of streaming radio stations. They brought the issue to the Copyright Royalty Board, which decided last year to raise the cost to play a song over the Internet from 8/100 of a cent per song per listener in 2006 to 19/100 of a cent per song per listener in 2010. Pandora only makes revenue on ads on its website, so this will be quite a bite into profits.

The Washington Post recently talked with Pandora.

“We’re approaching a pull-the-plug kind of decision,” said Tim Westergren, who founded Pandora. “This is like a last stand for webcasting.”…

“We’re losing money as it is… The moment we think this problem in Washington is not going to get solved, we have to pull the plug because all we’re doing is wasting money.”

The problem is in Washington with the Copyright Royalty Board’s decision. First, if the music industry understood what was in their best interests, they would encourage the promotion of their music. Second, these rules only apply to the US. So I can still listen to streaming radio coming from Canada or anywhere else. Only US-based sites are punished. Third, no fees are charged to traditional over-the-air radio stations to play music.

Rep. Howard L. Berman of California is trying to negotiate a deal between web radio companies and SoundExchange, which represents the record companies. Hopefully he can encourage a more reasonable approach to music over the Internet.