Usually, when I've engaged in a discussion with a less-audiophile-aware sort that's gone off into a figurative deep-end (and I'm really just a casual audiophile in the scheme of things), I will often defuse the situation and refer to it as a 'hobby' when they start giving me funny looks. That simple word is like my anchor that keeps the conversation from drifting into deep & uncharted waters. It's like "oh...OK it's a hobby." It seems that people can cut a lot of slack with this perception in mind. That aside, I am a very devoted music enthusiast/collector and I do play music as well so I take my music and it's reproduction devices quite seriously, but I do also consider my audiophile tinkering to be very much a hobby. And I don't think that's such a bad way to look at it...a 'hobby' is merely something which one adopts as a serious interest and devotes their time to with the hopes of expanding this interest and the inherent knowledge and pleasure that it brings.
Hobby, Hobby, Hobby?
Okay, maybe I'm being sensitive, but I don't consider my pursuit for musical perfection a hobby. This is a natural extention of my musical expression, education and critical analysis.
The playback system is a tool which allows me to hear deeper into one of the main driving forces in my life, "music". Do I get paid for listening. No, but sometimes I get paid for recording live performance. And, I record every performance I go to.
It seems to trivialize my passion when it is called a hobby. I know, I have had hobbies, coin collecting, stamp collecting and even now I make wine. But music, now that's not a hobby!
I suggest we strike the term "hobby" for our vocabulary when discuusing musical pursuits. Anybody feel the same?
The playback system is a tool which allows me to hear deeper into one of the main driving forces in my life, "music". Do I get paid for listening. No, but sometimes I get paid for recording live performance. And, I record every performance I go to.
It seems to trivialize my passion when it is called a hobby. I know, I have had hobbies, coin collecting, stamp collecting and even now I make wine. But music, now that's not a hobby!
I suggest we strike the term "hobby" for our vocabulary when discuusing musical pursuits. Anybody feel the same?