Editorial: Rich’s Ramblings
It’ll come as no surprise that I’m a hard core vinyl lover. All of my serious listening is done with vinyl as the source, so much so that the CD player that I do have was removed from my system more than a year ago and is currently languishing on a shelf somewhere. But even more than a vinyl lover, I’m a music lover, and it’s hard to listen to vinyl when travelling and digital sources or much more convenient when used as a source of background music. So over the past few weeks I’ve gradually loaded much of my meagre CD collection into my computer—without using any compression of course! Storage (even portable storage) is so copious these days that there is simply no justification for using lossy compression like that scourge of the music industry, MP3.
I don’t use my digital library as a source for serious listening, but it does make an ideal source for casual listening and music on the go. I can’t think of any downsides to having one’s favourite music instantly available anywhere. I’ve been a smart phone user since before they were called smart phones, so for a variety of reasons my portable music machine is my iPhone 4. I only mention this because it was a week ago today that Apple co-founder and CEO, Steve Jobs, passed away.
Even though there are several devices in our home with an Apple logo on them (for instance, this magazine is written and created on a 27” iMac), and I like a lot of Apple’s technology, I’m not a Fanboy. The patronising, Apple-know’s-best nature of some of their products, coupled with their refusal to embrace open standards (not to mention, iTunes’ eschewal of FLAC as an audio CODEC) really grates the geek in me. However, one cannot dismiss Apple’s innovations and achievements in bringing music to the masses, and Jobs was instrumental in them. Rest in peace, Steve.