sphealey:

> It's worth noting that digital audio files

> will get better, just as compact discs did.

The idea that technologies and their outcomes always "get better" is IMHO a remnant of the 1920-1980 period. In today's world driven by marketing, data mining, and the corporate buyers at Wal-Mart technology often becomes cheaper and more ubiquitous. But not necessarily "better", and often worse on an objective basis.

Midrange hi-fi is a good example: there is now essentially nothing available between the $200 mass-market cheapie and the the $20,000 audiophile system. All the manufacturers that made good systems in the $500 - $1500 range are gone as are the stores that sold them. There simply isn't anything on the market in that range to compare to what was available in 1987, much less anything "better".

sPh

True. The local Tweeter Etc. just closed up; the last store where you could buy NAD, for instance.