Is Our Digital Society Losing Something?
I was browsing through the recent submissions to Hacker News and came across this article. The author made a number of arguments about the change to digital music that just made me cringe:
When people ditched their CDs, they lost album art and liner notes, but those were never a part of the actual listening experience. The music bursting from headphone and speakers was still music, was the same whether it came from a disc or a download. When the liner notes vanished, the songs remained the same.
This led me to leave a comment with my opinion on the matter:
“and all the people who are hardcore about audio cringe at the notion that music sounds the same regardless of origin or equipment used to reproduce it… these also happen to be the same people who cherished the album, who saw insights into the music from the artwork on the cover, and read the lyrics over and over. I’m a geek. I owned a Kindle and read books regularly on my iPad and iPhone. I love the technology. However, it drives me crazy when people say that the details in the “antiquated” and analog versions aren’t/weren’t important. There is truly much being lost.”
The literary and creative arts should utilize all the senses. I get the feeling that as we move more towards digital technologies (which I use and enjoy!) we’re losing an important piece of the complete experience. What’s your opinion? Answer this poll really quick, then leave a comment! [polldaddy poll=4026992]
