Hi Auto, dont disagree with anything in your last post except I am obviously missing out by only having a horrible CD in my car
. I do think we have a number, not sure how many, of different markets and consumers at the moment.
Hi mate. I think that you seem to think that because i dont like something, and believe there are much better ways of doing things, that somehow infers i think you are daft for not doing the same, and why we had a spat earlier. That's not the case at all
If people like CD's, who am i to argue. If someone have never tried anything else, i will try and inform them of what i think are better options for certain people. It there choice, that does not make them stupid (for the many reasons i have outlined already).
Anyway, for me, CD's drive me nuts because...
* Unlike a well organised and well tagged digital collection, they are much harder to organise and search though.
* I constantly have to keep getting out of my chair to change them (as annoying for me as losing the TV remote).
* They get lost and 'borrowed'
* They damage far to easily.
* They hit the limit of their quality, sample rates etc.
* CD based system's are for more prone to jitter.
* They can only be one place at a time, i can have my digital music on my iPod, squeezebox in my kitchen and lounge etc, all at the same time.
* They store a limited amount audio data (1 album).
* They store a limited about of metadata. CD text is no match for proper tagging, with loads of info, inc lyrics, etc.
* They take up too much room! (i have about 600 albums).
* CD players are unreliable compared to devices with no moving parts.
* They are an ugly piece of plastic and horrible to hold, unlike LP's which are something special. They have no value to me, other than to hold music - which they are not that good at any more.
* You cant do stuff like shuffle albums, tracks or create playlist (manually, or with things like MusicIP).
* i love LP's, but i just simply can not see any benefits of sticking to CD's, at all.
I could go on, but i think i have said enough and will shut up about my great dislike of CD's
I do think we have a number, not sure how many, of different markets and consumers at the moment...
....I think we all agree that group 1 above have no interest or inclination to adopt this technology.
Indeed, i agree you are probably right to a degree. But I'm not an early adopter. I'm an average 32 year old family man. They were on the 4 generation of Squeezebox when i bought one, purely because i was sick of changing CD's and having them skip when scratched. I dont have an LCD TV (old Sony CRT) and dont even have Sky. It was a revelation. So yes, it's difficult to 'pidgin hole' people, but yes there are many different types of people. I just consider myself a music (and radio) lover. I'm certainly not an audiophile, dont have the money, but do make the most of what i have (that and I strongly believe much of what audiophiles spend a lot of their money on makes bugger all difference - especially in the digital arena). My father is a real big screen TV average kind of bloke, mechanic by trade, but he has now bought a internet radio and loves it. Even started dabbling with streaming music from his PC. I would not say there is no interest at all, far from it, but that the conditions for mass take up are not
quite right just yet. If you want to group people, it see two main groups - people who just want stuff to work with minimum fuss, and people who like to tinker. Love them or hate them, iPods just work. It's not the same with hifi digital audio - or at least that not the perception people have (i personally think the Sonos is extremely easy, and people who take the plunge often say how surprisingly easy it was, if you have the ability to use an ipod and can also connect your laptop to your wifi router, a sonos is a breeze).
I get your point though, most people are happy with what they have, most generations are (or at least what the salesman in Currys tells them is best). But the thing with all technology, not just this area, is that certain markets drive other markets. A niche product will propagate through to other area's of the market - just like the iPod did. So developments in the more specialised hifi world will filter through to the more average-man-on-the-street eventually, even if they are not crying out for it, and thats what is happening. Companies need to move forwards and they also dont want to be in too many markets at the same time. The likes of logitech and Sonos have a real head start, so many traditional hifi manufactures might have missed the boat, realise this and keep pumping out CD based devices till they die. Sonos and logitech have pretty much got the mid-range market sewn up, it think we will see some interesting battles further up the chain.
Even Sky+ is having an effect on the way people view technology. My mother has Sky+ and it took her a while to get used to not having tapes and lots of programmes stored on one device. A question would be "but where are they?!". But she mastered it now more than she ever mastered her VCR. It's effectively a video streamer, just for sky. Well into her 60's, she now has an iPod for audio books. IMO, its a myth that only the younger generation adopt new tech and trends. For portable audio and throw away mobile phones, that probably true. With stuff like video streaming and proper hifi, it tends to be the more switched on middle aged people with a bit money than the teens (in my experience anyway) and graduate onto decent kit.
The final group is the 'classic' audiophile with a traditional 'high end' CD/Turntable, Amps (pre and power) and high end speakers
That's really changing now, with the likes of Linn in on the game. Lots of new high end stuff coming out all the time now. Possibly more so than the Jo Bloggs type you refer too. Again, that will filter down. It will be the 'el cheapo £80 CD mini-systems that are last to go, IMO, which i think you agree with. And dont forget a lot of this kits
very expensive, so to an true audiophile that means a) Well, it simply must be good, and b) gives them that nice warm elitist feeling inside (OMG, i'm joking, please dont kill me!)
Nice chatting to you anyway, i'm enjoying this discussion. Never intended for it to get heated as it did before, i think you mistook me