Audiophiles & music-have you got it wrong?

Some nice replies on this thread.
Bombaywalla-nice post however a few points in response.

PRICE OF MUSIC-maybe music is overpriced but is it different from other products?Isn't our high end equipment vastly overpriced?
Not an excuse or justification of the view music is overpriced just a point.

QUALITY OF RECORDINGS-could you give some examples of new badly recorded music?
It's my view the production is a big part of the artists statement and if the band/singer produce badly recorded music it's because it doesn't feature as part of their statement.
Most new music I hear is very well recorded and suits the music,there is the odd band that obviously compress their music for some reason probably mass appeal on boom boxes etc.
I hear this a lot but don't hear too many examples with the exception of Santana and U2 recently.

NEW GOOD MUSIC-yes I agree, not everybody will like the more extreme descendants of popular forms and I can accept that easily.
My main point on this is that I believe many audiophiles are missing out on music they would like but don't take the time to find it,indeed it would seem searching out release and general music news doesn't feature strongly in their lives.
As Jeff points out above many don't have the time but some of them do then complain bitterly there is no good new music about.
That's my main point.

Ben,
>>our high end equipment vastly overpriced?
Yes! Vastly overpriced! You won't get an argument from me re. this but just 'cuz equip. is over-priced doesn't mean that music should also be! Today the amount of high quality, good sounding, reasonably priced gear is at its highest. It's a trend that I don't see stopping anytime soon.

>>could you give some examples of new badly recorded music?
I'm mostly a vinyl person so I buy fewer CDs than yourself & most of you. However, I do have a fair amount of run-ins with bad recordings. Some examples:
"All That You Leave Behind" U2 - sibilance city (Grammy award for this!). It's a Dutch pressing that I got when I went home to Bombay. I can't listen to it at all but I really like almost every song.
"Brothers In Arms" Dire Straits - original CD. Compression in many of the tracks esp. in the title track. Heard it on my friend's system, which has a SET amp, and the compression wasn't as glaring. I think it's a tube vs. ss thing.
"Greatest Hits" Carlos Santana. This is a re-issue from some yrs back (red cover). Says that it uses 20-bit re-mastering. Was listening to Black Magic Woman w/ a friend. We both agreed that the recording was marginal. Fair amount of sibilance.
"Colour of My Love" Celine Dion. I beg forgivness! I bought this CD by mistake. I do not like her one bit but something got into me & I bought it! Her voice is strong but boy is it compressed! There are very few airy highs & there is a lot of opportunity for airy highs in her CDs.
These are few that come to mind right now.

>>My main point on this is that I believe many audiophiles >>are missing out on music they would like but don't take >>the time to find it,indeed it would seem searching out >>release and general music news doesn't feature strongly >>in their lives.
Very possibly true! However, there is so much trash out there that it maskes it very hard to wade thru all of that to get a few good releases. The effort:reward ratio is tilted the wrong way! Add to that that many audiophiles/music lovers have domestic responsibilities & the effort:reward ratio gets further tilted the wrong way. When I tell my neighbours & friends what music I listen to their eyes glaze over. They tell me that their parents & grand-parents listened to the artists I'm listening to! They cannot fathom how somebody can listen to this old music today. I've got to be listening to the "latest" music! The point is: the music industry is catering to the masses. Re-issues of "good" music is a 2nd priority & are fewer & far between. The smaller recording & manuf. labels have made it their mission to fill in this gap (for which I'm grateful) but their prices are sky-high! I can get 2-3 CDs for $100 from mail-order companies! Good grief! I recently got hold of a vinyl copy of "Brothers In Arms" Dire Straits. Original LP. Probably beats the pants of the $40 XRCD re-issue. I paid 1/10th for it!

Kind of off topic, But...I picked up Muddy Waters (folk singer) cd the other day. This remaster has caused me to order another Muddy Waters remaster. I've begun to explore more of this old stuff. While Muddy Waters was no stranger to me, I am finding many of the other artist's from his day are. Sound quality on this disc is very high and was a great surprise.

Dave

One issue no one has raised is whether there is a relationship between the level of ones "audiophillia" and the time one spends listening to individual recordings. In other words, the dollars I've spent on my system allow me to listen deeper into my music, and, consequently, I find I have played a given record, say, even more often as my stereo has been upgraded over the years. (Except when I first started out and only had a few to play, of course.) This has slowed down my purchasing of more recordings as I don't have the time to appreciate them all. Still, the quality of the artistic experience I enjoy has been enhanced as my stereo has been because I can connect better emotionally with what the musicians are doing.
The result of all this is that my music collection is relatively small compared to most of you, and its cost is exceeded by that of my system. However, this is not a matter of priorities.
As an aside, I'm basically a "tweak". I don't swap gear as much as optimize it by adjustments and accessories.