Today's Chicago Tribune business section included some coverage of the International Consumer Electronics Show. The article, by the Tribune's "Technology Guy", takes a slightly different slant from what we're used to reading or might want to read. Here are some excerpts I thought you guys might find interesting.
"The increasing ability to play music from gadgets such as mobile phones and GPS devices is pushing a key group of music fans into the background: the audiophile."
"...if you want to find... (audiophile) companies... you have to leave the convention center and head back to the Las Vegas Strip."
"Walking among the suites on the 30th floor, wonderfully rich sound escapes from each room. The music is mostly classical or jazz, and it's as if you're walking down the halls of a college dorm built for rich people."
"Yet, while the atmosphere is exclusive, the hard-to-find locations miles from the show floor is an apt metaphor for where high-end audio fits into the lives of many consumers these days."
Seeking information about the state of the "high-end", the reporter interviews representatives of Onix , Bang & Olafsen, and a four year old french speaker company called Highland Audio. He concludes, based on advice from these experts, that the hope for the High-end will lie in iPod connectivity, Integration with TV (home theater), and hard-drive based systems.
Although he never quite says it, the future of high- end audio as he presents it is as bleak as that of the daily newspaper - particularly the one he writes for. (The Tribune's dire financial straits are, however, another story.)
Why, I wonder, aren't some of the real high-end manufacturers or distributers latching on to scribes like this one and providing them with information that might lead to article which could do some good for the industry? If someone had grabbed this guy by his press badge and played some of his favorite music on a first rate system maybe the next sentences following, "...wonderfully rich sound escapes from each room.", might have been something beneficial to the industry and to all of us instead of what amounts to condemnation.
Today's Chicago Tribune business section included some coverage of the International Consumer Electronics Show. The article, by the Tribune's "Technology Guy", takes a slightly different slant from what we're used to reading or might want to read. Here are some excerpts I thought you guys might find interesting.
"The increasing ability to play music from gadgets such as mobile phones and GPS devices is pushing a key group of music fans into the background: the audiophile."
"...if you want to find... (audiophile) companies... you have to leave the convention center and head back to the Las Vegas Strip."
"Walking among the suites on the 30th floor, wonderfully rich sound escapes from each room. The music is mostly classical or jazz, and it's as if you're walking down the halls of a college dorm built for rich people."
"Yet, while the atmosphere is exclusive, the hard-to-find locations miles from the show floor is an apt metaphor for where high-end audio fits into the lives of many consumers these days."
Seeking information about the state of the "high-end", the reporter interviews representatives of Onix , Bang & Olafsen, and a four year old french speaker company called Highland Audio. He concludes, based on advice from these experts, that the hope for the High-end will lie in iPod connectivity, Integration with TV (home theater), and hard-drive based systems.
Although he never quite says it, the future of high- end audio as he presents it is as bleak as that of the daily newspaper - particularly the one he writes for. (The Tribune's dire financial straits are, however, another story.)
Why, I wonder, aren't some of the real high-end manufacturers or distributers latching on to scribes like this one and providing them with information that might lead to article which could do some good for the industry? If someone had grabbed this guy by his press badge and played some of his favorite music on a first rate system maybe the next sentences following, "...wonderfully rich sound escapes from each room.", might have been something beneficial to the industry and to all of us instead of what amounts to condemnation.