Lee Gomes recently reported in The Wall Street Journal that “those who work behind-the-mic in the music industry–producers, engineers, mixers and the like–say they increasingly assume their recordings will be heard as mp3s on an iPod music player.” The news is enraging audiophiles, who know that the highly compressed data files used to send recorded music over the Web and store it on iPods sound inferior by comparison to a digital CD. I, on the other hand, take a different view of the matter, not because I don’t appreciate high-end sound but because I’m–brace yourself–middle-aged.
Why does the fact that I’m fiftysomething have anything to do with my willingness to listen to music on an iPod? For the answer, pick up a copy of Saturday’s Journal and turn to my “Sightings” column in the Weekend Journal section, in which I discuss the effects of presbycusis on music appreciation.
And what if you don’t know what presbycusis is? Then you really need to read my column tomorrow morning.
UPDATE: Online Journal subscribers can read this column by going here.
Terry Teachout on the arts in New York City
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