At 8/21/00 2:13 AM, las increased the world's knowledge by typing:
>Again you can't use 2000 technology to discredit 1960+ state of the art.
>
[snip]
>
>Things get easier all of the time. But that doesn't mean that recording an
>album to tape was so difficult that it couldn't be done by the average
>person.
If I remember correctly, the point was why was there a market for
prerecorded cassettes, but why isn't there a market for prerecorded MDs.
I'm old enough that I remember 8 tracks and reel-to-reel tapes. I was
definitely "the average person" during the period when LPs and cassettes
ruled the music industry. I couldn't afford anything close to the high
end equipment you discussed. Even good equipment required significant
manual fiddling to get a decent recording, and even then the quality
wasn't anywhere near as good as a prerecorded tape.
In short, there are three simple reasons why prerecorded tapes
flourished, while prerecorded MDs don't:
1. Recording LP's to tape was a time consuming process that usually
required some fiddling. Recording a CD to MD is as simple as it can get,
even with "low-end" equipment.
2. A tape recorded from an LP was simply inferior to prerecorded tapes
unless you happened to own very high-end equipment. Even then pops and
clicks from LPs were common. I doubt that an audible difference can be
heard between a MD recorded from a CD and a prerecorded MD.
3. Cassette players were everywhere. You could buy a tape and play it at
home, in the car, on a portable player and on a boom box. MD players
aren't nearly so ubiquitous. Most people will only be able to play a MD
either at home or on their portable. But a CD can now be played anywhere
a cassette could.
To me, these reasons where why I preferred to buy cassettes before CDs
took over. And these reasons are why I prefer to buy CDs and record them
to MDs myself. (Note: I have a MD portable and a car stereo that plays
MD. But that's it.)
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Ed "What the" Heckman [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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| Laughter is the brush that sweeps away the cobwebs of the heart. |
| -- Mort Walker, |
| King Features |
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