Hi Bob: :Latest datapoint to support your argument: As reported in NYTimes yesterday, Forrester Research data indicates iPods are not generating the iTunes sales predicted. Bottom line is each iPod sold generates about 22 iTunes song purchases. That means I fall right in the average. I bought two Verve out-of-print jazz albums, hated the quality of the iTunes sound so much I vowed never again, and have stuck to my vow. BTW -- I don't think most typical iPod owners care about the sound, I think they just have either friends who already ripped what they want to MP3 or they are handy with pirate file-sharing networks and get their tunes that way. If Apple and Big Music are concerned about too small a download to iPod ratio, then they all the more should embrace my idea of two-tier quality and two-tier pricing. Reduce the price for mega-crunched MP4 junk to 75 cents a song and sell ALF versions (ie what should be CD quality) for $1.25 a song. They may find a better bulge in their wallets than they thought, and in the least I don't think the net-net would be a reduction in profits because I think they'd sell more 75 cent tunes than 99 cent tunes because right now, a full album is $9.99 -- same price Amazon or J&R or soon-to-be-dead Tower charge on sale for the full-fledged CD. Reduce that to $7.50 and it suddenly doesn't seem such a ripoff to most people. -- Tom Fine ----- Original Message ----- From: "Bob Olhsson" <[log in to unmask]> To: <[log in to unmask]> Sent: Tuesday, December 12, 2006 8:19 AM Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] Clarifying the MAM-A gold comment > Mike Richter wrote: >>...You can make a >>radio or a preamp by hand, but it takes massive capital investment to >>make CD-Rs. > > This is the problem with most things digital. It creates obsession with a "mass market" that in > many cases doesn't exist at all outside the mind of stock market speculators. > > -- > Bob Olhsson Audio Mastery, Nashville TN > Mastering, Audio for Picture, Mix Evaluation and Quality Control > Over 40 years making people sound better than they ever imagined! > 615.385.8051 http://www.hyperback.com >