[Dixielandjazz] Are iPods just a passing fancy? (was mp3s and all that stuff)

[Bill Gunter]

Hello listmates,

I'm not sure how many of you are following this discussion about the merits 
of mp3 files and wav files and the emergence of iPods which are making CDs 
obsolete. The resolution of this constant conflict between analog vs. 
digital recordings, between CD players and Ipod players, between DAT 
recordings and hard disc recordings has enormous impact on those of us who 
listen to music.

We listen to music - that's the thing that unites us in our little mailing 
list here. As listeners we have concerns about getting the best media to 
convey our music not only to us but to our children and grandchildren.

Some of us may be stuck in the 78 rpm phonograph record system and may be 
going bonkers trying to find needles to play our old 78s (which decrease in 
fidelity with every playing).

About three or four years ago I bought a small Sony mini-disc recorder. It 
was about the size of one of those cigarette cases which sophisticated film 
stars used to carry around. It recorded music very nicely and was more 
compact than my older Walkman Professional compact audio cassette tape 
recorder. But it seems to be obsolete now and I haven't used it for a long 
time.

Jim Kashishian wrote:

--> clip

" . . . [we've discussed] the escence of the argument between hard disc & 
tape.  The fact that
tape is disappearing from the market will require everyone to end up on hard 
discs
only, obviously.  Doesn't mean that tape wasn't good, and didn't have a
place in the recording industry, though.

P.s. I just bought a memory stick the size of a thumb nail for my Sony
digital camera that has 1 GB of memory.....which is really weird when I
think about my two original recording "bricks"!  What a world we are living
in, the speed of the innovation!"

--> end clip

I have a Sony digital camera which I bought maybe six years ago. Cost me 
about $400 and had a resolution of 3 mega pixels. I could store around 25 
pictures on the memory stick.

I just bought a new HP digital camera for under $100 and it has a resolution 
of 5 mega-pixels! My daughter gave me a memory stick for it (like Jim's) 
that has 1 GB of memory. She paid nineteen bucks for it at WalMart and It'll 
hold about a thousand pictures!!!

I just saw an ad for Fry's Electronics in this morning's paper showing a 2 
GB memory stick for thirty nine bucks!  You can't take that many pictures on 
your next trip to Disneyworld!

I'm amazed that they still sell film!

Folks -- we are witnessing an enormous explosion of technological 
advancement in the gathering, storing, processing and distribution of 
information (in our case, music) and the speed at which these developments 
transpire is getting faster and faster. At the same time, the quality of 
this digital information is increasing just as rapidly.

Consider this . . . A friend of mine (recently deceased) was a radio guy who 
had a regular program on the air where he played, basically, dixieland and 
tradition jazz. He had a record collection (mainly LPs) which was enormous. 
It occupied a lot of space on shelves that reached across one whole wall of 
his studio. Hundreds of LPs all vertically stacked on those shelves pretty 
much like your own LP collections . . . only larger.  Remember how you had 
to really squint to read all those titles along the narrow spine of the LP 
sleeve?

Well . . .

That entire collection (every song therein) could be put on one Ipod no 
larger than a cigarette case and which you could carry around in your shirt 
pocket and listen to whatever song you chose anyplace, anytime, over small, 
high quality headphones.

This morning's Sacramento Bee (my daily newspaper) carried this information. 
In a story headed "Really, I'm Listening" and sub-headed "Digital savvy 
teens say parents shouldn't stress about all their electronic multitasking." 
The story goes on to point out:

"Parents have never had an easy time relating to their teens, and now 
there's more to compete with than ever. According to the Pew Inteernet and 
American Life Project, 87 percent of 12 to 17 year olds are regularly 
online, 75 percent use instant messaging, AND 84 PERCENT OWN CELL PHONES AND 
IPODS (emphasis mine)."

Now tell me -

What is it exactly we are doing today to get youngsters to at least 
appreciate our music and, hopefully, learn to play it? Do any of these 
efforts involve iPods?

Respectfully submitted,

Bill Gunter
jazzboard at hotmail.com