It never occurred to me to presume this, probably because I’m not a technophile. But here I sit with a new computer (waiting months for the Apple operating system update as a few pieces of both hardware and software on my blue 7-year-old iBook fail), and it asks if it can take my picture. This is during the delirium of out-of-the-box set-up, where it establishes the Internet connection then you register. Then a photo? Of little ol’ me?
It’s cute. Photo Booth uses the MacBook’s built-in camera and, apparently a flash. Is the flash in the screen? I couldn’t tell. Best of all, it asked if I wanted to retake the photo. It was very late at night, I looked lousy and giggly at the same time. Six reshoots.
But what kind of lens does this have? It’s in a quarter-inch square hole above the screen. Focus and aperture? Number of pixels? While in a drawer to my left is our Canon PowerShot digital point-and-shoot with pixels and power to spare and a decent zoom lens.
Cell phones don’t have much power or pixels and a tiny fixed lens, but they’re used all over the place. Why’d I buy a real camera again? I had presumed that one shopped for a camera, a music player or TV based on how much quality you can afford and can appreciate.
The car has a Pioneer stereo with modest speakers because the receiver/amp itself is modest. But it’s full-fledged compared to the iPod or any of the MP3 personal stereos. MP3, by definition, is compressed. That means bits of sound are deleted to make it all fit. Like when you reduce a picture so e-mail can send it without bogging down or for an Internet site so it will load fast.
Quality is down. Articles are being written about it. Wall Street Journal tech columnist Lee Gomes gave this a close look on Sept. 12, “Are Technology Limits in MP3s and iPods Ruining Pop Music?” (Journal is a fee-based site so no link).
Gomes reports that producers run those mixing boards (equalizers) to make the best sound possible in this compressed format. When they’re then burned to disc and played on CD players they sound inadequate. I’d take that to be similar to a digital photo reduced to open in e-mail or on the Web then making a paper print of it.
The point is, why bother? I like my CDs, in the car or in Shady Hill with the modest Panasonic with bookshelf Bose speakers (I’m noticing the size because we don’t listen to loud music loudly. Well, sometimes we rock, but our Loud doesn’t tremble the seismographs.)
On Saturday, the Journal hits this again, in the culture commentary Sightings by Terry Teachout. It’s headlined: “The Deaf Audiophile: What’s So Good about Bad Sound? Plenty.” Teachout summarizes Gomes, but, it turns out, he doesn’t dislike the sound quality of the little digital players.
The double negative is needed. He does not praise it but calls it a compromise or sacrifice he’s willing to accept. He likes the convenience of the little players. Then, as he’s now middle-aged and going a little deaf anyway, what’s the diff? Third, he makes the point I someday want to attack, that recorded sound by definition is a compromise and never as good as the real thing.
I’m with Teachout. But not so fast. I’m still trying to justify a home or car stereo when little iPods are more popular. I’m wondering about my year-old Canon Powershot when my computer takes nice pictures of me, and when I upgrade my cell phone, it will be more convenient than the camera. Except when I want high-quality and need to take the time to do it right.
(Today, local columnist Mike Masterson addressed those young people and their loud music.)
TV manufacturers hawk big screens and with the help of the federal government will force all of us in a few years to replace our sets with high-definition TVs. In the meantime, young people are watching movies and TV shows on their … cell phones, the newer iPods and computers. My MacBook came with a remote control so I could set it on the hotel room desk and click on a DVD from bed. My glossy MacBook screen is very nice, but it’s no plasma.
It used to take lots of research to find the best of something then to find the almost-best that you can afford. Maybe that day is over, but I’m renewing my subscription to Consumer Reports.
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