[78-L] Neil Young hates MP3s

[David Lennick]

“Dear Mr. Edison, if my friend Edmund Yates has been a little incoherent it is 
in consequence of the excellent dinner and good wines that he has drunk. 
Therefore I think you will excuse him. He has his lucid intervals. For myself, 
I can only say that I am astonished and somewhat terrified at the result of 
this evening’s experiments: astonished at the wonderful power you have 
developed, and terrified at the thought that so much hideous and bad music may 
be put on record for ever. But all the same I think it is the most wonderful 
thing that I have ever experienced, and I congratulate you with all my heart on 
this wonderful discovery. Arthur Sullivan.”

Nyaah.

dl

On 1/23/2012 3:29 PM, bradc944 at comcast.net wrote:
> That kind of ranks right up (or down) there with J P Sousa's commentary about the prevalence of gramophones in the early 1900s... the quote going something like '...if gramophones are allowed to continue to exist the ears of the younger generation shall fall off...' or something off-handed like that. I wish I had the full quote to refer to. It was a hoot.
>
> Seriously, this sounds like (and I hate to say this about one of my favorite artists) braying at the wind... if one listens to a high bitrate copy MP3, the differences between said MP3 and master analog are subtle, but not as bad as Mr. Young indicates. I also suspect that Mr. Young hasn't listened to a 78rpm disc is pristine condition from the 1950s. I did a quick-and-dirty transfer of an Eddie 'Cleanhead' Vinson on King for a friend's radio show, and it not only showed how good a 78 can sound, but it also showed the..... rawness... of the session (can we say "PEG THOSE VU METERS SOME MORE!!!").
>
> Brad
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Jeff Lichtman<jeff at swazoo.com>
> To: 78-l at 78online.com
> Sent: Mon, 23 Jan 2012 16:42:37 -0000 (UTC)
> Subject: [78-L] Neil Young hates MP3s
>
> Neil Young says that the sound from an MP3 is "worse than a 78":
>
> http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1677694/sundance-film-festival-neil-young.jhtml
>
> I think he has a point about sound quality, although his comment that
> people are only getting 5% of the music reveals that he doesn't
> understand the technology.
>
>                          -        Jeff Lichtman
>                                   jeff at swazoo.com
>
> _______________________