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- Subject: (no subject)
- From: Mikael Sundström <email@hidden>
- Date: Mon, 22 Jan 2007 16:41:45 +0100
On Jan 22, 2007, at 2:51 PM, Stephen Blinkhorn wrote:
On 22 Jan 2007, at 09:39, Mikael Sundström wrote:
Anyone who can click a mouse can instantly "create their own
music". Kind of hard for anyone to compete with that, don't you
think? So, entry-level audio producion is pretty much cornered on
the mac. And once the new user's appetite for greater things have
been stirred, he's bound to have a ton of Garageband projects he's
invested time and creativity in. What audio production software
will allow him to import his stuff and continue working with it?
Why, that would be Logic, and nothing else. So this new user's
upgrade path is pretty much cornered too.
for some yes, for some no. if they are really interested in what
they are doing they will look around for other possibilities which
isn't a mammoth task in this google age.
I have big hopes in the intelligence of users too. My point was just
that it seems Apple is banking on the idea of being able to herd the
consumers right where they want them, an observation I think fits
available evidence from Apple's behaviour.
Let us all hope they're mistaken. Or that I am, for that matter.
You may not see it yet, because older users still cling to their
older stuff, but the next generation of users will grow along the
path Apple has groomed for them. Or at least that's the plan of
Apple's management, as evidenced by their actions. You can see the
same development in other fields as well, Apple is positioning
itself as the main (the only?) developer of third-party software
for their machines.
Apple does invite us third-party losers to share the fun in one,
and one way only: we may write audio unit plug-ins compatible with
Garageband and Logic.
you are free to install whatever software you like whether that be
open source, freeware, apple or whatever else there is. you are
free to develop whatever software you like too.
Sure, I can install anything that exists.
What I believe some people have expressed in this whole Jack Soap
Opera, is a wish to have a nice and stable soil provided by the OS to
plant their seeds in, enabling cooperation and competition alike,
thus ensuring a wealth of such alternatives will continue to exist.
Though such soil does indeed exist to some extent (applause!), a
particular troublesome hole in the provided abilities has been
perceived, and several almost excessively polite efforts to take this
issue to Apple's consideration has been met with nothing but avoiding
mumblings and side-stepping excuses.
I think these overly polite people may need to reconsider the general
benevolence of their sugar daddy just a bit. Maybe sugar daddy
doesn't really care as much about what anyone may want and benefit
from as they think.
I mean, if you take your vision of "a greater good for all, in
pursuit of life and happiness and mutual benefit, in ways no man has
ever tried before", and talk to Captain Picard of the Starship
Enterprise about it, you're going to CONNECT, because those are his
values too. Sure, he may be a little wary to put his ship and crew at
risk in pursuit of your vision, but he'll do it in the end anyway. He
has to, because you're invoking his personal Gods.
But if you take the same argument to a captain on a Ferengi starship,
all he's going to hear is "ga-ga-ga-ga-ga-ga-ga!". Nowhere in your
whole blather do you talk about what PROFIT this whole endeavor would
bring to HIM, so he just can't make any sense out of what you're
saying. He's a Ferengi, and he's only in it for the profit. He loves
his profit. He loves it more than his own life, and will fly into a
supernova rather than abandoning any loot for anyone else to take.
You're just not CONNECTING, by talking about idealism. Any way of
referring to how things really should be, is idealism.
So, how do you deal with a Ferengi?
Easy! You dangle a couple of freshly charged Dilithium Crystals in
front of him, and when he salivates and reaches out to snatch them,
you grab him by those big sensitive ears, twist real hard, and yell
into them: "There'll be no more profit for you, untill you cooperate
for the greater good for all, you useless Ferengi scumbag!!!!"
Then he'll cry like a baby, and sign whatever you put in front of
him, anything at all, just to get his profit back. And then you'll
give him his Dilithium Crystals. Toss in a couple more, to reward him
for being such a good boy, and he'll be more than happy to have made
business with you.
Do this many times, and he'll even grow eager to do business with
you, not because he'll ever learn to understand your idealism, but
because he'll come to realize the greatest profit for himself, can
sometimes be had by mutually beneficial agreements. He'll still try
to stick you given a chance, of course. What do you expect? He's only
a Ferengi, after all!
I'm surely wrong about many things in this world, but Apple does
currently seem to be a starship under Ferengi command to me, the
excellent crew notwithstanding. Threatening to take your business
elsewhere may prove more productive than groveling for mercy. Just a
thought from me, some random guy who has been following the Soap
Opera for its entertainment value.
(Sorry about all the Star Trek references. Just because you're all
programmer geeks around here, doesn't mean you're all Trekkies. I
think.)
Small record companies could really use such revenue, and the
entire music industry would get revitalized from it. Before you
knew it, music could actually become worth listening to again.
IMO music is still worth listening to :)
Is it? For decades, music has been ever more comressed, all in a vain
effort to be LOUDER than the competition on the radio, an attitude
purely motivated by unchecked greed. The RMS-to-peak value among
mainstream albums has shrunk over time according to this handy little
table:
1985: 18 dB (Sounds a bit raw and unpolished. The old-time "demo"
sound.)
1990: 12 dB (Sounds good! About the optimum value of compression.)
1995: 6 dB (Sounds overproduced, flat and lifeless. A sound that
fails to engage the listener.)
2000: 3 dB (Sounds harsh and choked, very tiresome to listen at.
Every sound source strangles everything else.)
2005: 2.5 dB (Less "dynamic range" than a sine wave at a constant max
level! Sounds like "Distortion with a beat!")
For at least the last ten years, it has been counterproductive to
spend money on a hifi system, because it only showcases how bad
everything sounds all the better. The wonderful 1000 dollar
headphones I invested in at one time have been lying around unused
for many years now. I think I still got them in my underwear closet
somewhere. It simply stopped being possible to listen to music on
these headphones. Any level at all sounded painfully loud, right
untill you turned the knob all the way to the left.
So, is this unmusical CRAP really worth listening to to you? If it
is, I truly pity you.
Notice I haven't even said anything about the music as such here,
there's a lot of music around that could have been great, I just
claim the end result of modern productions is painful for the ears,
and not worth torturing yourself by listening to. An opinion
surprisingly many industry professionals will gladly subscribe to, by
the way.
And whaddayaknow, music sales have indeed plummeted while all this
mayhem took place! Perhaps some people don't want to be tortured
after all?
The new cash cow is to sell the "hits" as ring tones for mobile
phones, where the constant buzz of distortion that passes for "music"
nowadays suffices. Go figure.
Mikael
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