How often does a company claim to "reinvent" itself? And how many times is it actually true? Boston Acoustics is making a lot of changes - dropping most of their speaker lines, dropping many of their accessory products, and even dropping the "Acoustics" from their name. Reinvention? Absolutely. The new face of Boston was unveiling to us and reported directly to you.
I'm saddened. I've always enjoyed my Boston Acoustics speakers. Based on the article and the fact that most retail outlets have dropped them I get the impression that they are doing a survival mode pullback. Retrenching and going more Circuit City/Best Buyish. I guess that's where the money is. Well I guess I'll be watching the sales for a deal on pair of CR67 or VRX satellites for my rears..
Here is something even sadder: The B&W website now lists "ipod speakers" on an equal footing with hi fi and home theatre.
Everything is going the dreaded way of MP3 and CD sales have dropped and probably will be only available on a order basis. Itunes as far as I know only sells songs at 192Mb instead of 320Mb. I don't know about the other resellers. Vinyl will outlive the CD format. Thank god I invested into a quality turntable just recently.
Alright, I'll say it. I think that iPods are wonderful devices. I remember lugging around a portable CD player and a CD holder when I'd travel, and my holder only held about 15 CDs. Before that, it was portable tape players. Now, people can hold more music on a smaller device that has a longer battery life.
BTW, I am NOT saying that I like compressed audio. My only real reason for not buying more songs from iTunes is the compression. I buy some from time to time because it provides instant gratification and, honestly, the songs sound fine on my computer speakers. Also, when using headphones, most people don't need the original uncompressed version of the music because they can't tell the difference. I shy away from it because I can tell a difference when I play the songs on my main stereo system.
When the technology was released, storage capacities and internet transfer rates forced compression for it to be commercially viable. However, that's changing. With iPod storage capacities these days, one can fit a lot of uncompressed audio onto them. I think that the technology is great. We all can choose how we want to use it.
Although MP3s are here to stay, I really think that the serious audio lover will go back to vinyl. I just picked up a new Turntable from Pro-ject and I'm amazed at the sound and the nuances that have been brought out. I'm on path of rediscovering my vinyl colleaction again. Its amazing. Shortly afer buying my TT, I went looking for local shops who dealt mainly with vinyl and I'm surprised that I counted over 10 in a city with a pop of about 750000. The other thing that suprised me is that any CD I've purchased over the last 6 months is also available on vinyl. Its the CD format that is starting its slow agonizing demize. I may be wrong but in this point in time, I see way more titles in vinyl then DVDA and SACD put together. Maybe if the two DVD camps could have agreed on 1 format, then it may have emerged as CD's replacement for the serious audio lover.
Although MP3s are here to stay, I really think that the serious audio lover will go back to vinyl. I just picked up a new Turntable from Pro-ject and I'm amazed at the sound and the nuances that have been brought out. I'm on path of rediscovering my vinyl colleaction again. Its amazing. Shortly afer buying my TT, I went looking for local shops who dealt mainly with vinyl and I'm surprised that I counted over 10 in a city with a pop of about 750000. The other thing that suprised me is that any CD I've purchased over the last 6 months is also available on vinyl. Its the CD format that is starting its slow agonizing demize. I may be wrong but in this point in time, I see way more titles in vinyl then DVDA and SACD put together. Maybe if the two DVD camps could have agreed on 1 format, then it may have emerged as CD's replacement for the serious audio lover.
The only reason for the resurgence of vinyl is the "loudness wars" which are leading to poor mastering of CDs. The vinyl version of a given title is sometimes mastered differently, and intended to appeal to an audiophile audience. This is the only way that vinyl can sound better, since CDs (when properly mastered) are capable of very substantially better sound quality.
The Boston Experience
Figures
Linear Mode
