There has been a long thread on this at http://forum.stereophile.com/forum/showflat.php?Cat=&Number=2&page=8&view=collapsed&sb=1&o=&fpart=1

Welcome, Anonymous.

I hear ya, but it's not like the world was overrun with hi fi in the good old days.

Hi fi has always been a less than 1% market phenomenon.

Best Buy nowadays is the rough equivalent of The Federated, BEST, Montgomery Wards, Sears, and, surprisingly, furniture shops back in the 60's and 70's.

Yes, we have fewer dedicated hi fi shops now, but every damn consumer in the world has an infinitely larger selection and information resource on the web.

There is not really so much a move away from hi fi as there is a bit of a paradigm shift going on these days, with mui mucho hi fi in the future, for the exact same reason you used to describe the rise of video: High Definition.

Video will feed us, it's teaching people to expect "hi res." You think they will stop at video?

Nope.

As soon as the players get enough memory, "Hi Res" will be the next big buzz word of the portable digital music world.

This will lead to people wanting systems that can play back "Hi Res" on their home gear, and "PRESTO!" We'll have the next wave of hi fi newbies to shepherd along.

Audio is lagging behind video, true, but your very illustration of the evolution of video to high resolution bodes well for us hi fi nuts.

Ya know, this really needs to be discussed over beverages of some sort.

Anybody going to the Stereophile Show in L.A. in June?