tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4480670874497503750.post1408901285470854221..comments2023-10-20T01:47:28.401-07:00Comments on Thoughts from down in LA: Listening to music in the age of digital abundance….Eric Jensenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13406871908523098569noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4480670874497503750.post-60150392786773335032010-03-28T20:33:39.341-07:002010-03-28T20:33:39.341-07:00Jeremy - Thanks for the comment. You make an excel...Jeremy - Thanks for the comment. You make an excellent point. The music comes first of course and the opportunities for discovering and listening to music today are ubiquitous. AAC and high bit rate MP3s sound quite good. I don't want to discourage anyone. Transistor radios changed my life when I was a kid! <br /><br />I was in the studio biz for many years so I get tweeky about audio but what is available to everyone today sounds really great. There's certainly no need to be an audiophile. After a certain point it's splitting hairs anyway.Eric Jensenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13406871908523098569noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4480670874497503750.post-8218514707501553042010-03-28T18:26:31.129-07:002010-03-28T18:26:31.129-07:00Nice post, and I particularly like the recommendat...Nice post, and I particularly like the recommendations of making both a special place and a special time to listen. Also appreciate your interest in listening to many genres, from pop to jazz to classical.<br /><br />The only quibble I have is that I believe that there are many committed music fans who are not necessarily committed audiophiles. And so with nothing but full respect, I would nevertheless argue with your insistence on "highest quality available" audio. I think that can be more of a musician's concern than a fan's concern (although clearly there are serious audiophiles out there who are not musicians).<br /><br />Me, I was turned on to a world of music via a relatively cheap FM radio in the mid '70s, and just never have really needed the super high-quality experience. Yes, you want something better than tinny if at all possible. But once it's 'acceptable,' I don't personally think it needs to be 'highest quality.' I have decent speakers, but nothing better. I still feel completely attached to the music, and always have.<br /><br />And I point this out largely so people don't get discouraged because they might not have high-quality audio available and yet otherwise can follow the rest of your wonderful suggestions to the letter.Jeremyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04214997074988577329noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4480670874497503750.post-91535548190946375732010-03-27T18:03:11.945-07:002010-03-27T18:03:11.945-07:00I share a lot of the same sentiments that you have...I share a lot of the same sentiments that you have all described here. Music discovery pre-internet/Napster was a time of excitement and anticipation. We worked much harder to discover new music and I know that the connection to the music was much deeper. <br /><br />My friends and I would do what we called the "record fly" every Saturday where we would spend hours hitting the record shops (used and new) in Toronto looking for rare, imported, live and new music. <br /><br />Our trip back home on the subway meant ripping open the plastic off LPs and CDs. Soaking in the artwork, liner notes, graphics and lyrics. We bonded with artists entirely through the music. Tweets, Facebook fan pages, blogs? Who could have imagined that all those years. <br /><br />There was a certain mystique that made us focus entirely on the music and less so on the non-music aspects of the fan/artist relationship.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4480670874497503750.post-84957084377762086742010-03-27T16:47:27.418-07:002010-03-27T16:47:27.418-07:00When I was a kid I bought Beatles 45s at the local...When I was a kid I bought Beatles 45s at the local vacuum cleaner store. There was all this anticipation and excitement. It was a very special thing to hear new music for the first time. <br /><br />I'm an optimist and think this is a time of real creative opportunity. You are right, the challenge is keeping music relevant, getting the cream to the top, and cutting through all the noise and mediocrity...Eric Jensenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13406871908523098569noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4480670874497503750.post-59807353383494844412010-03-27T13:53:29.261-07:002010-03-27T13:53:29.261-07:00Thanks for that journey down memory lane. I rememb...Thanks for that journey down memory lane. I remember all of it. <br />I remember going into department stores where they were showcasing their new stereo systems by playing demo albums. <br /><br />I remember heading to the local record store to see what had just come in and buying albums so that I would have the latest underground music.<br /><br />I remember listening to radio to hear something I had never heard before. I'd listen to Boston's WBZ (50,000 watts of flower power) down in Norfolk VA where I was living one summer. There was a late night DJ who would play obscure stuff like Pearls Before Swine.<br /><br />I still run across a few artists that make me go "Wow." But I don't have any rituals anymore to find them. I read recommendations and check those out, but the anticipation of visiting a place (in the real world or online) to find new music isn't there anymore. Too many mediocre bands have been hyped in the blogosphere.<br /><br />On the other hand, some of the stuff that turns up on YouTube (like some classic concert or TV show that I saw years ago that has been found and uploaded) has really made me smile. It's all kind of random, but there are some gems out there.Suzanne Lainsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15483602086100616975noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4480670874497503750.post-37859086188016200882010-03-27T13:50:59.962-07:002010-03-27T13:50:59.962-07:00Great post. This will resonate with anyone who gre...Great post. This will resonate with anyone who grew up in the golden age of the vinyl LP. The question is: can the dedicated, stationary listening session be appreciated by a younger generation that has never experienced music this way?Cannonballhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02228773048653808169noreply@blogger.com