Hahahaha! Yes, this has been a topic of conversation between my friends and I for decades. As we have observed technology simultaneously make it easier for anyone - even me - to lay tracks down and cheat on just what it takes to be a "real musician", it has become more and more difficult to find new music that shows evidence of real talent. It's becoming harder and harder to feed one's audiophiliosis!
Even musicians with "real talent" can now fake it. Vocal enhancement technology enables aging rockers like Joe Walsh and Roger Waters to hit notes they otherwise have lost the ability to hit. Drummers are begging for gigs on the side of the road: "will drum for food". Keyboardists now play the QWERTY keys instead of the ol' black & white.
The one really good invention is headphones, which is what my kids wear when they're listening to music. I like it, and they don't have to listen to my music either. Win-win.
I agree completely. We now have music "stars" and I use that term lightly, who were born from reality TV contests and social media. It is amazing how little some of these people have talent. Thanks to technology, singers that would of been laughed at back in the day sound perfect. These are also the ones that lip sync at shows so they can put on a display. The more people that are drawn to the stage show, means less people paying attention to the actual singing or instruments being played.
What happened to the days of playing clubs relentlessly and travelling in a beat up van to play gigs just so you could build up an audience and get some record execs to listen to you? Apparently times have changed, and I don't think for the best. At least when it comes to producing great music.
Higher bit rates mean better quality. Quality between an analog recording and digital recording at a high bit rate is not discernible to human ears. More information on this topic can be found here.
I don't know much about this world but if you open Windows Media Player, select the Rip tab, under format choose MP3 format and then look at Bit Rate you'll see these choices:
Kevin: That's something I never heard before...do you have any idea how that works? I know there's a lot lost in analog to digital translation, but I thought that could be compensated for becuase digital can be edited so easily.
I have a confession: I listened to music on vinyl records...45s and 78s.
Barbara is certainly correct about the millisecond attention span that so many people have today. It is hard to explain something to them if the explanation takes more than a minute or two. They totally lack the ability to focus on anything for an extended period of time, like five minutes.
Of course there is also a huge lack of talent, and it is most demonstrated by "music" that can't stand on it's own, but that must have all sorts of show to complete "the experience."
Of course, I have a theory that the training of a whole generation to be unable to focus or pay attention is part one of a plot to enslave them all, since they will not be able to concentrate long enough to realize that they are not free any more. Interestingly, this idea has not yet been challenged as unreasonable.
A friend gave me a few tunes on recordable CD (how old fashioned that sounds already!). One of them I really liked and heard on old fashioned FM radio one day. Wow - It sounded like a completely different song! I checked the CD later and found the file had a very small file size - you really do lose something.
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Thailand Stages a Comeback Join EBN contributor Jennifer Baljko on Thursday August 23, 2012, at 11:00 a.m. EST for a live chat on how electronic manufacturers in Thailand have shored up their supply chain to reduce the impact of future natural disasters.
Euro-Crisis: What It Means for High-Tech Firms Join EBN Editor in Chief Bolaji Ojo and Contributing Editor Jennifer Baljko on Thursday, July 12, at 10:00 a.m. EDT for a Live Chat on high-tech and Europe's economic difficulties.
Microsoft Surface: Potential Winners & Losers What are the implications for the electronics industry supply chain of Microsoft Corp.'s decision to launch its own tablet PC? Join industry veteran and EE Times' systems and OEM expert Rick Merritt on Tuesday, July 3, at 12:00 pm EDT for a Live Chat on this subject.
Join EBN contributor Jennifer Baljko on Thursday August 23, 2012, at 11:00 a.m. EST for a live chat on how electronic manufacturers in Thailand have shored up their supply chain to reduce the impact of future natural disasters.
Peter Drucker famously said "Trying to predict the future is like trying to drive down a country road at night with no lights while looking out the back window." Yet in the razor's-edge world of electronics—with a lean supply chain and just-in-time demands—the need to know the future is vital.
While no one really can accurately predict the future, we can take guidance from another Drucker saying which is the best way to predict the future is to create it.
You've heard the saying "the No. 1 supply chain risk is your people." That hasn't always been the case. But today's complex global supply chain requires a new type of multitalented employee. It's one who understands, finance, marketing, economics, is savvy with technology, graceful with relationships and can think analytically.
Where are these people? Are universities properly preparing the next generation supply chain professionals? How do train your existing workforce for these new, demanding positions?
Brian Fuller, editor-in-chief of EBN, will lead a 60-minute Avnet Velocity panel discussion that will ask and answer these and other questions swirling around today's supply-chain talent challenges.
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