I'll take a growing fringe market over a dying fringe market any day. . . . One doesn't have to listen to only one format. Right now I can play just about ever major music format except for Edison cylinder, 78, those big RCA cassettes from the late 50s and Elcaset. I routinely play CDs, 8-tracks, cassettes and RtR tapes in addition to my vinyl.
. . .
I think some people just like to complain that the sky is falling, even if it's demonstrably stuck where it's always been.
When I miss a day checking AK, and discover there are 4 thousand new posts, it is hard for me, like Sam, to consider that "the hobby" is dying at this moment, especially when I consider that this is only one of the many English online audio forums, including several that are devoted to various niches within the audio realm.
I agree that audio is changing rapidly, but when was it not doing that? I can only now afford the mid-fi analog equipment of the early 70's I would have liked to have owned then, meanwhile much has changed in what is offered on the audio store shelves and showrooms. But I find that I am not alone, others here, with better credentials than me, are devoted to some equipment similar to mine. If I found my niche, why complain?
I don't want to make any sweeping generalizations about the younger generation, even if I am not much interested in listening to their popular music. I realize that they are not a monolithic group as far as tastes and interests go, just as my peers and I were not in the late '60s. One of my friends was consumed with buying every Elvis recording, when the rest of us thought Elvis's career was long over (this was before Elvis died and everyone suddenly, almost inexplicably to some of us, startd calling him the "King of Rock and Roll". At the time, I could barely afford to buy any LP I liked, unless it showed up in the $2.77 rack at the discount store. But like a 15-year-old today, discovering vinyl with Granddad's old system, I bought a table-top Victrola with a broken mainspring for 12 bucks, fixed it, and began enlarging my 78 collection at thrift stores and garage sales.
When I was in college, my wealthier classmates had gigantic speakers, powerful amps, expensive turntables, and several feet of LP albums lined up on their shelves. We'd sit around listening to them, examining and discussing the album covers, and going through the rituals of operating the equipment. Today, in the dorm room (or carried with the kid everywhere) even larger collections of tunes fit on tiny chips, there are no album covers, and the speakers are tiny or non-existent in some cases. The experience is VERY different for the typical young person. Perhaps the social part of the experience is in texting a link to a hip download offering, not in something I would recognize. Where's the black light and incense? -- a voice deep inside me wants to ask.
I think what young people are used to, however, doesn't necessarily predict what they are capable of appreciating. Some will be exposed to better musical sources and other technologies and will take advantage of them. Others won't bother, or won't consider spending more to hear some music better when they could spend that money on the next incarnation of wireless gadgets. At the same time, others will become vintage vinyl and tube equipment nuts. Some will amass cassette or even 8-track collections. Some will buy 2000 dollar speakers, 3000 dollar turntables, 4000 dollar record cleaners, and 5000 dollar phono cartridges, and, when venturing into the digital realm, will only listen to "loss-less" formats. Some will set up high-end audio twitter networks, and may have already done so (it's not like I'd know about it).
As for ones who go on preferring MP3s, some of whom keep the earbuds in and turned up full blast for about 18 hours a day, perhaps they simply cannot hear the difference between a condensed MP3 and something better. Their enthusiasm for their age's technology may have correspondingly condensed their hearing. Those of us who lost some hearing at Rock concerts in the '70s might recognize a little of ourselves in that.
