This suddenly reminds me of how Thomas Edison used to do live concert hall demonstrations of his Diamond Disc phonograph. A soprano would stand on the stage singing with piano with the phonograph next to the performers. The lights would go out. The audience would continue to hear the performance. The lights would come back on and the performers had left the stage, leaving the phonograph to 'perform' by itself. The wrappers of the Diamond Disc records (the later electrically-recorded ones, interestingly enough) carried the caption, "Comparison with the living artist reveals no difference." And probably in those days most of the general public, to whom the phonograph was still utterly novel, may have not developed the discrimination to hear the difference. (This is, of course, assuming no chicanery was involved in Edision's demonstrations; he was not above distorting facts and sensationalizing things to try to get his way.) I am perfectly willing to believe that the maj ority of the public today can hear no difference between vinyl and CD, but it also reminds me of a high school friend many years ago asking me, "What is the instrument on this record?" I replied that it was probably a Steinway, because that was what the majority of recording studios seemed to be using. I received a look of utter incomprehension. He had simply wondered whether it was a piano!
Spike "I think there is a world market for maybe five computers." - Thomas Watson, chairman of IBM, 1943 "There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home." - Ken Olson, president, chairman and founder of Digital Equipment Corp., 1977 "This 'telephone' has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a means of communication." - Western Union internal memo, 1876 "Nobody can hear a difference between a CD, vinyl, or live performance." - William, 2010 _______________________________________________ post: [email protected] unsubscribe or set options at https://pegasus.memphis.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/options/horn/archive%40jab.org
