My last post got me thinking.

Downloadable music is quoted as killing the music industry- especially file sharing. Now Napster has gone legit, with legal dowloadable music.

To me though, downloadable music sucks. I hate the sound of an MP3- I can tell a compressed track a mile off, even at a highish bitrate. I’d rather not listen than put up with it. I do have a Minidisc, and that sounds pretty good (even though it does compress data compared to CD).

I suppose it has a chance in the singles market, which traditionally doesn’t really care about quality (think 7-inch vinyl), but I don’t thing it will rival physical media anytime soon for albums- even if MP3 (or Ogg or Windows Media) does eventually equal CD quality, SACD and DVD-Audio will kick it’s ass. Or am I just behind the times?

On a connected note apparently sales of 7-inch vinyl are at a high at the moment- apparently a new generation of rock fans are going full-on retro and as well a music that sounds a bit like it might have been made over 30 years ago they want the medium too. Complete with dodgy pressings, crackles and pops. What’s next? Computer software to add crackles and pops to your ‘artificial sounding’ digitally recorded music, instead of taking it out of your vinyl-cd transfers?