MISSING THE POINT?

Ben, I think one of major concerns with any newly released material...other than personal taste, is the sonic quality of the recording. Last years multi-grammy winning Santana CD is a good case..of a very bad sounding "new release". I am afraid that the inroads of computer mucic...MP3, home theater..etc..is likely to make the sonic aim of most major lables lower...rather than higher.

I have purchased 8-10 new releases this year.... I think that the above post is partially correct with sound quality being an issue...... but, Mark Knaffler and Sting's latest sound mighty fine. Some people that spend the cash on the studio time are actually obtaining better results than some of the older recordings (With the exception of the audiophile recording studios). Being an audiophile doesn't have to mean that you are stuck to the "reference" recordings that some of the magazines and audiogoners refer to - I personally have few of those... I am a music lover and an audiophile, and my $30K system plays punk and well as pop, beastie boys better than classical, alternative and acid jazz, jazz, the dead, phish, They Might be Giants.... You name it, I listen to it (except for rap). I agree that too many audiophiles have the tendancy to get wrapped up in the way their system sounds rather than the musical enjoyment. (maybe they do enjoy the music, but only dwell on the buzz words) I refuse to change my musical tastes to be involved in high end audio. The audiophile in me has driven my system to the maximum level I can responsibly afford, the music lover in me has compelled me to visit many musical styles, regardless if the recording is the best.

whatjd, i, too, din't buy the santana cd cuz i heard how compressed it was. but, when i found it on vinyl, i grabbed it - not half-bad, & my dbx-3bx helps even more! i listen to the radio a *lot*, & find gnu-stuff to buy this way. also, i like reading the music articles in rags like s'phile, to find things i mite like. & borders books has some nice cd-stations that allow ya to browse w/yer ears if ya got the time. i'm sure other stores are set-up like this... doug

Hi Ben: I pick randomly at thrift stores and fleamarkets. I purchase a lot of disks (since they are inexpensive) that I do not have a clue about, and just wing it on instinct. If there is something new that looks interesting (usually noted on the threads at this site) I ask my wife to put it on her list with BMG and Amazon. If I can get out I average 3 or 4 new CD's a week. I have picked up Russian opera singers, Tango CD's, you name it and have only crapped out a handful of times. I used to select my vinyl in this same manner and ended up with some very rare and good short run albums. If I like the music I just live with the recording quality (whatever it is). I also use a pair of HT Truthlink IC's to help tone down the crummy HF's of some of the disks, can't do much about the LF's , etc., but the HF's are tamable.