Originally Posted by
sergiodeblanc
I never said I prefer the sound of MP3s, and I would welcome a world where the average consumer cares more about fidelity, but until there is a demand from my customers and clients I am not interested unless there is something in it for me. For my paying clients that are going to go to a mastering house (I wish there were more of them!) I make high resolution masters, but for mixtape artists and punk bands who skip that part and go straight to direct marketing of their material, I typically look at the old red book standard as the format they NEED.
I spend so much time listening to MP3s in the worst listening environment for that format: Dance clubs. You think listening to that crap in your car or over your Bose speakers in your living room sounds bad? Just for giggles go out some night and listen to some Dubstep, Reggae, or Hip-hop over a huge club system, if the music genre does not make you want to punch yourself in the face the sonics will. I play MP3s myself in these environments but only after I search high and low for a better quality option, but sometimes the need for that hot new track that nobody else is playing outweighs the bad, and the kids don't stop dancing or buying drinks and leave the club because they don't know any better, or care enough to complain.
This is exactly my point.
I worked for Starbucks in my early twenties back before they became the super-giant of selling total crap that passes for a "premium" product at inflated prices, and my fiance is presently working there now while attending grad-school, so I feel I as though I may have enough experience to say that: MP3's = Starbucks Coffee Pods.
Perhaps you have no idea that the lack of constant temperature of your machine (and the ones presently being used at Starbucks) with it's plastic tubing is robbing you of your coffee's potential flavor. There is a noticeable difference in flavor when you grind fresh beans versus pre-ground packaged coffee pods, which is why Starbucks used to make us grind coffee, and throw out unused grounds every 24hrs. Do you know a paper cone in your drip coffee machine has an negative effect on the flavor of your coffee because the paper soaks up the oils the would pass through the screen of a french press? Do you care, do you just not know, or is the convenience of Starbucks in your home whenever you want it more valuable to you than your passion for great coffee? If so there is nothing wrong with any of that, you happen to be of the same make up the majority of Starbucks patrons who keep me supplied with quality, affordable, health insurance every month. Seriously.. Thank you!
The masses seem to have chosen convenience over quality for the moment, so that is where my "I don't care anymore" sentiment has its roots. I purchase every song I "license" for work or personal enjoyment, MP3 or CD. (which as you know is just a limited license agreement, you don't "own" that music.) I know you were not inferring that I download stuff illegally, just as I hope you know I am not personally attacking your coffee preferences, I just think that the demand creates the market, and not the other way around with some of this stuff.
Maybe you, Bennett, and I need to get together. I can make you some coffee, you can play the same B.O.C. record to Bennett on four different formats, and you both can show me what I am missing by not owning a PRS Artist model.
Cheers.
