(02-06-2018, 08:16 AM)The Real Marty Wrote: Whatever happened to sound systems?   It used to be all about amps, and speakers, and all these components, and how well they reproduced sound.  Nowadays, everyone has their earbuds, and little portable speakers, mp3 players, and it seems like no one cares about the quality of the audio any more.   We used to lay out $20 for an album, and invite all our friends over to listen to it, and now, music is so commoditized, and everyone listens to "songs."   We used to buy an album and we'd feel an obligation to play the whole thing, not just one song.  

I'm not saying it's all bad.  Music nowadays is pretty much on demand.  You can go to youtube and find anything you want, which I think is great.  But I miss the days when we would put on an album, burn one, and just zone out and sit there listening without talking, with the feeling that we were right there with the band.   Now, no one cares any more.  They just want to load 10,000 songs onto their mp3 player and listen on their earbuds.

I still have a large component stereo system. It's been relegated to the studio/guitar room, though. It still sounds fantastic and it's quite loud. Can't even be in the same room with it when it's cranked. 

And I'm the old die-hard who still buys CDs. I enjoy having the packaging the disc comes in. I guess that goes back to being a kid and reading every bit of the liner notes of every album I bought. And while my ears aren't what they used to be, I can still hear the difference in audio quality between CD and MP3.

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