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<!-- #thumb --> <p>In <a title="Should we care?" href="http://www.pstracks.com/pauls-posts/care/12132/" target="_blank">yesterday’s post</a> I asked if you cared about the format, sample rate and technical information of the music you listen to. *Or are you ok with not knowing as long as it sounds great? *Many of you wrote me back with great answers. *Some care, others not, still more confused a bit about the question.</p>
<p>One of my favorite internet radio stations is KPLU in Seattle, known as Jazz 24. *I listen to this almost every night as we cook dinner and it sounds terrific. *Turns out the stream is at the lowest bit rate possible and mono. *Mono for goodness sake! *On my little kitchen radio appliance I couldn’t tell nor, for that matter, do I care. *But try listening to KPLU on your big system and you’d be horrified at the indignity this great music suffers from a station who obviously cares a great deal about music.</p>
<p>And now Sony jumps on the bandwagon and is going to put its muscle into marketing a new breed of digital music player; a player so good the format of what you listen to will no longer be relevant and all that matters is high rez or low rez. *I don’t see where this player is anything special but what I do see is the possibility this 600 pound gorilla can turn millions of people onto the idea music has different reproduction quality levels. *This can be huge for those of us interested in furthering the quality of recorded music. *I just love the way they are relating HD TV to HD music. *There’s a great connection there. *Even the most uninformed luddite is probably aware of HD TV.</p>
<p>But do we as Audiophiles care what it is we listen to? *Could Sony’s attempt at turning the format information into oatmeal, palpable by anyone, change the way we choose what music to buy and listen to? *Doubtful.</p>
<p>You are an Audiophile. *You know the difference between good and less good sound and some formats sound better than others. *If you’re going to spend money buying music, why would you all of a sudden not care what it is you’re buying?</p>
<p>Imagine this question were put to wine drinkers. * The average consumer knows there are red and white wines and probably understands whites are cold, reds are not. *But choose a format of wine? *Merlot, Chardonnay and vintage? *What’s a vintage? *Don’t all cabs taste similar?</p>
<p>No, I think we’re not average consumers and we do care.</p>
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[Source: http://www.pstracks.com/pauls-posts/prefer-chilled/12143/]
<p>One of my favorite internet radio stations is KPLU in Seattle, known as Jazz 24. *I listen to this almost every night as we cook dinner and it sounds terrific. *Turns out the stream is at the lowest bit rate possible and mono. *Mono for goodness sake! *On my little kitchen radio appliance I couldn’t tell nor, for that matter, do I care. *But try listening to KPLU on your big system and you’d be horrified at the indignity this great music suffers from a station who obviously cares a great deal about music.</p>
<p>And now Sony jumps on the bandwagon and is going to put its muscle into marketing a new breed of digital music player; a player so good the format of what you listen to will no longer be relevant and all that matters is high rez or low rez. *I don’t see where this player is anything special but what I do see is the possibility this 600 pound gorilla can turn millions of people onto the idea music has different reproduction quality levels. *This can be huge for those of us interested in furthering the quality of recorded music. *I just love the way they are relating HD TV to HD music. *There’s a great connection there. *Even the most uninformed luddite is probably aware of HD TV.</p>
<p>But do we as Audiophiles care what it is we listen to? *Could Sony’s attempt at turning the format information into oatmeal, palpable by anyone, change the way we choose what music to buy and listen to? *Doubtful.</p>
<p>You are an Audiophile. *You know the difference between good and less good sound and some formats sound better than others. *If you’re going to spend money buying music, why would you all of a sudden not care what it is you’re buying?</p>
<p>Imagine this question were put to wine drinkers. * The average consumer knows there are red and white wines and probably understands whites are cold, reds are not. *But choose a format of wine? *Merlot, Chardonnay and vintage? *What’s a vintage? *Don’t all cabs taste similar?</p>
<p>No, I think we’re not average consumers and we do care.</p>
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[Source: http://www.pstracks.com/pauls-posts/prefer-chilled/12143/]