Believe it or not, I lived through the birth of these digital formats too
3#-)
But I do agree, when CD kicked off, it took a while for its acceptance. Now,
try to stop the masses!
But you are also correct with the future of MD. It is hard to predict any
sort of technology, no matter how good or convenient it may be. Now
considering MD's existing popularity, it would be silly to suggest that it
could die out, especially considering that there doesn't exist a superior
medium at this stage. Magneto-optical storage is the best storage going
around at this stage for durability, portability and longevity. The reason
why blank tapes are still selling well is simply because not everyone has
made the shift to MD. It's costing serious dollars at this stage, despite
the falling prices, but it will gradually get there.
I say this because at the electronics retail chain that I work at
(part-time) here in Australia, I'm seeing more and more people buying into
the MD format, be it with a Sony, Sharp or Kenwood unit. From one month when
I saw only 1 MD unit (of which I ended up making a 5V regulated power supply
for the dude <grin>), the next 3 months progressed to 2 units, and then one
month after that, 11 people with these units. It is growing, and according
to TDK, MD blank sales are on the rise of roughly around 17% per year and
that's exponential. To TDK Australia, that appeared to be significant
enough, especially to introduce the XA Pro MD's (known as MD-XG Pro's here
in Australia). Soon enough, MD units and blanks will fall further in price
as a result of this, and it is finally getting recognised as the ultimate
tape-killer amongst the non-technical masses.
Bear in mind, as well, one reason why CD took a while to be adopted was
because of the lack of pre-recorded material. Much the same situation as
with MD here in Australia (and surely, other parts of the world). But, MD
was a recordable format from its first day of inception, whereas CD burners
weren't released for a while, and even then, they cost thousands when first
released. So the fact that the public has access to blank MD's for
recording, at an equipment price which would be cheaper than a good CD
player and a good CD burner combined, makes it a technology that will be
ever so slightly quicker to adopt than what CD experienced.
As for analogue being stored in analogue formats, I can understand the
reasoning behind it, but it doesn't really do the source of the music any
justice. I've experienced some fantastic tape decks with Dolby S (and even
my Sony car stereo with Dolby B!) with great results, but the frequency
response and dynamic range still impedes the true range of what the musician
has created. That's why I feel, that despite the fact that digital formats
still use a limited series of steps rather than infinite steps, the result
is certainly good enough for our ears. I don't see there being a
transformation of a nice smooth note into something that sounds like it came
out of a tin can. But as with anything in audio/visual, it's purely a
subjective matter. If you like what you hear, stick to it. If you don't,
find something that does appeal to you. The ultimate sound is the one that
sounds best to you, and bugger the rest of them 3#-)
But that's just the rambling of a younger man 3#-)
Adios,
LarZ
--------------- TAMA - The Strongest Name in Drums ---------------
-----Original Message-----
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] On Behalf
Of LAS
Sent: Saturday, 24 July 1999 3:14
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Re: MD: Date: Sat, 24 Jul 1999 01:18:57 +1000
The regular cassette still continued to do just fine. And while the sale of
pre
recorded cassettes may be dropping, the sale of blank cassettes still kills
the
sale of the MD.
It is very difficult to predict the future of MD. In spite of it's growth
in
recent years, the actual percentage of the market it commands is still
insignificant.
But the CD was not an over night success either. I knew many CD retail
operations that failed because they were ahead of their time (including my
own
"Compact Disc Jockey"). One of the problems with the early CD was that
there
were only a handful of manufacturing facilities.
I know that this is going to sound stupid to most of you. But I still
question
using digital storage to store analog information. Sound is analog. At
some
point in the process you are going to have to convert analog to digital.
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