Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83 based; site hound.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!mhuxr!mhuxt!houxm!hound!rfg From: rfg@hound.UUCP (R.GRANTGES) Newsgroups: net.audio Subject: Re: Digiphobes - the beat goes on, sigh. Message-ID: <1199@hound.UUCP> Date: Tue, 4-Jun-85 13:40:56 EDT Article-I.D.: hound.1199 Posted: Tue Jun 4 13:40:56 1985 Date-Received: Thu, 6-Jun-85 03:35:43 EDT References: <2412@decwrl.UUCP> <350@moncol.UUCP> <304@tilt.FUN> Organization: AT&T Bell Labs, Holmdel NJ Lines: 48 [] Tell you what, life fun right now for thousands and thousands of good old common people who never had it so (musically) good before CD. And hundreds of join you in your boredom, despair and disgust at the continuing dialog (if we can call it that) betweeb digiphobes (your term) and digiphiles (implied by phobes). But, tens of us still get upset when people like you make the informed sounding personal opinion> sweeping denunciations of the present state of the art. Statements like yours don't really affect the oldtimers. But they can affect the newcomers to audio and mislead them from a lot of fun "for the next five years" or so. The fact is that there is a very good case to be made that a person just getting started in audio or high-fi, especially a person on limited funds like a student, should skip vinyl technology all together and start with FM and CD. (or, possibly, as you point out) Beta or VHS Hi-Fi as with the latter you can replace cassettes as well). About the last thing they should do is either a) wait five years (they could be dead in 5 years). b) mortgage the farm for a high end turntable, arm, cleaning machine, cart- ridge, stylus, micrometer, etc., etc., I can't help wondering how you made your big evaluation of the state of the digital art. By listening in high end salons that think their future depends on retaining vinyl technology? By listening to the testimonials of other such folk in their communal publications (and advertising compendia) such as The Absolute Sound? By "hob-nobbing with your fellow wizards" as L. F. B. used to say? Bet you didn't do it by getting a known working model in your own home and using it extensively with your own system - with a variety of CD's, not just the stinkers. I for one am perfectly happy to let sleeping CD wars lie, but only if the multitudes are given the truth -which to me is that at present, only a very small and increasingly minute fraction of the audio community maintains that CD's are inferior to vinyl records at the state of the art. Of course there are many inferior CD's. There are millions of inferior vinyl records too, have been for years and will continue to be despite overdue and too late efforts of the record industry to get its act together. CDs are expensive. So are good quality records (with a few exceptions like Musical Heritage Society). A student on a budget could go far on a CD player, an FM tuner and a pair of Stax phones.(Just to cite one of many possibilities resulting in state of the art sound). -- "It's the thought, if any, that counts!" Dick Grantges hound!rfg