Should Sound Quality of Computer Audio be improved

I share Pettyofficers frustration about CDs no longer in print. However, this phenomenon has nothing to do with the emergence of downloadable music (in my case - I have been trying to get my hands on some Munir Bashir releases). These are simply exotic titles that don't make the publisher any money running an new batch to produce. With or without downloads, these titles would be gone on physical CD media.

If anything, some of these unavailable titles CAN still be downloaded as MP3. Without downloads there would have been NOTHING.

Chadeffect- I thought this was an AUDIO Format, not LESSONS ON THE WRITTEN ENGLISH Format. If I want English Lessons I will be talking to an English Professor, not YOU Professor. You would make a lousy English Teacher, stick to your day job- we will all be safer.
Mapman- Never have I been so misunderstood. I concider a Laser a step up from magnetic particles of 1's, and 0's. Not to mention how fragile, and vulnerable those magnetic particles are to magnetic flux. A Cassette Tape in Disk Format with magnetic 1's, and 0's- sounds really nostalgic to me. Do you need a map to step up to Lasers? Cassette tapes suck because they are so fragile, and highly vulnerable. DITTO IN SPADES for Hard Drives (And Back-ups)
for the exact same reasons. Same Laws of Physics still applies for both. Cassettes are disposable, Ditto for Magnetic Music Files!
Edorr- perfect attitude that encompasses the direction that Computer Audio is going. As Audiophiles, let's embrace MP3 at a portion of the resolution of CD. If Manufacturer's want us to buy a New Format at a portion of the resolution of MP3, lets embrace that too! Lets endlessly repeat this exercise, TO WHAT END? Really, is there no bottom here? Spend your monthly paycheck for a few beans of sound quality? Beans that are "Soon To Be Available", so you are left eating dirt! Someone will get rich on this FOR SURE! It ain't going to be you getting rich on Sound Quality, or Selection.
You may think that you are better off today in terms of Music Selection, and Sound Quality. It is an illusion.
Music Files are extremely vulnerable- that is certain. Do you have a replacement should anything happen to thousands of Music Files stored on your Hard Drive (Back-up just as vulnerable). In a Magnetic Storm of a Solar Flare, I suggest your ONLY viable back-up will be a CD. Who would have thunk it? Powerlines can be replaced, even CD Players can be replaced. Who pays for your unretrievable magnetically based Music Files? You do, or you simply do without them. They are, after all, designed to be disposable. Why should it be such a big shock at how vulnerable they are? STILL, there is no money back guarantee should you lose them- WHY? What do they know that you don't? They know HOW TO MAKE MONEY! Law of Conservation, make money from where? From YOU, of course.
At what expense? At the expense of Sound Quality. You are paying a fortune for a house of straw (Computer Audio Format). What can I say, Houses of Straw are certainly "CONVENIENT". They just weren't made to last. That is what's so "INCONVENIENT" about them. What makes them so "PROFITABLE", is the appearance of "CONVENIENCE".
An Audio Format based on fragile magnetic 1's, and 0's is an illusion of Sound Quality, Selection, and Convenience. It is a house of straw not made to last. Only thing nostalgic is Greed, and Profit. CD's cost many times more to produce than downloaded Music Files, and the price is the same or higher? Me thinks someone is being robbed blind here! You certainly have alot to talk about, so I will leave you alone now. Pet Rocks, Downloaded Music Files- what's the next fad to make someone a millionare? Should I be forced to pay for the air that I breath-NUTS!
I have to draw the line...SOMEWHERE! Where do you draw the line on Sound Quality, or the quality of anything? Are the majority of the American Public not interested in the quality of ANYTHING? Sounds like a VERY lucrative, and profit making Market. Yet, the Economy still sucks. Have you figured it out yet??? Maybe someday you will if it is NOT too late, and you still have a job! If you don't, then the answer should be very obvious. Your former Employer thought that the buying American Public wasn't interested in purchasing the high quality that you provided. Someday,
I pray, we will learn. Have YOU learned anything yet?

Dear Pettyofficer,

We don't need a professor to teach basic English. Although I am wondering if we need a highly qualified professor in psychology to work out what your angle is?

Your above post and its issues have been answered so many times now.

MP3s you love to bring up. This argument has been answered. Zzzzzzz. Incase you forgot MP3 is about convienience and maximum storage. Not audiophile needs. There are many more advanced data files for that, some lossless and others with more modern data compression algorithms . You have the choice and can always keep your full bandwidth music stored.

As for HDs and their vulnerabilities? So far we have survived. So I can assume you will be able to playback music with HDs for quite some time. Magnetic or otherwise.

Greed and profit? Market? Which country do you live in? Is it the one that has no concept of profit or markets?

Robbed? We are all robbed on some level. Take a look at world history. Most countries were built on it. This is not about a format.

Ever wondered why back in history the British navy was so powerful? Huge chunks of it were paid for by robbing the Spanish gold which they in turn stole from South America. The British went on to build an empire and power their industrial revolution. Shall we move closer to our life time? Who is paying for the 2008 Bank crash? Robbed indeed.

And yes you do pay for the air you breathe. It's paid for by those who went before you (around 2-3 billion years of bacteria and photosynthetic organisms on earth) and also paid for by the eventual break down and decline of your own body. Oxygen is dangerous stuff. It's highly reactive.

Nothing is forever PettyO (except maybe this thread!)

I admire you, PettyOfficer, even if I do not agree with you.

I can picture your father, twenty years ago, decrying the "death" of the LP. "I'll buy your silver discs when they weigh 180 grams", he would say. "Where will you be when this "laser" dies on you? I'll take a good MC cartridge THANK YOU". "Perfect sound forever? How about good sound right now!"

Of course, the CD did not kill music, nor has the Internet. For every CD that goes "out of print", two more spring up. Plus, you can buy the old ones on eBay!

I don't see it happening the way you do. I don't see this lack of choice, and I don't see a slippery slope to expensive garbage. I am definitely no more afraid of magnets or solar flares than you should be of bit rot.

I see a wonderful future where enthusiasts record classical music and Patricia Barber with equal care and meticulous microphones, and where you can get those recordings the next day. Also, at the same time, Latvian rappers can make a demo riding the bus to their dishwashing job and I can have that too. I appreciate diversity of formats and diversity of mastering interpretations those formats make possible, but more than anything I appreciate diversity of MUSIC.

I honestly do not think that the death of XRCD will result in any fewer choices, lower quality, greater risk or higher prices. It is the result of people moving to a better format. Down with silver discs, lets listen to music directly!

"For every CD that goes "out of print", two more spring up."

Good point!