How Long Will CDs Last ??

[Jerome]

Just one small point. Vinyl in days of old were albums that contained music that was recorded with analogue gear. Modern vinyl (there's a name for a band), are probably mostly recorded on digital gear/processors/mixing desks etc. so even though you are recording it to vinyl as a final product the material is still 'digital' i.e. the waveforms have still been clipped. That said the new digital gear is far more accurate at emulating the original waveform (more samples per second) that older digital gear. One of the reasons music from the 80's sometimes sounds so clinical - when digital first appeared in studios. And some studios & engineers insist on using analogue gear to record and if it's done really well you can hear the difference - mainly on jazz and classical recordings. I think at the end of the day it does not really matter as long as the material is strong. Most people cannot tell the difference anyway - they just sense that the recording is good. One of the albums that I think shows really good quality recording is Roxy Music's 'Avalon' & of course 'The Division Bell' as well. A far more pressing problem is 'overcompression' in an attempt to make the material louder than the next artist so that it will be noticed on the radio. It's absolutely killing the dynamics in the music. And when you listen to material like this on headphones it leads to ear fatigue very quickly. And now, a totally unrelated piece of useless information. If you are going on a long car journey, stick earplugs in your ears. You will arrive at your destination far more refreshed. The sound of the air rushing past as you drive induces tiredness/ear fatigue because it is at the same constant pitch. Yes I know you think I am nuts but it works. Especially if you have to attend a meeting when you arrive at your destination and you have to be alert. Finally, those mobile phones have the worst audio quality of all - they have an IC inside which acts as an equalizer, with all the harsh frequencies boosted in an attempt to make them seem louder. Crap quality. And bad for your ears too. There are going to be an awful lot of ear/hearing complaints in the future - watch this space!