Katie MarsalIn an interview at the All Things Digital D: Dive Into Media conference on Tuesday, Young spoke at length about the lack of quality in today's mainstream digital music formats, arguing that the "low-res world" of MP3s provide just 5% of the data present in the original studio recordings, paling in comparison to the quality of vinyl records back in the 70's.
"We live in the digital age, and we are — unfortunately — we only have 5% of the content we used to have in the mainstream," he said. "It's not that digital is bad or inferior. It's that the way that it is being used is not sufficient to transfer the depth of the art."
Super high-def music files that would deliver sound on par with 24/192 files — the highest-res recorded music today — present challenges, including an increase in download times to 30 minutes per track and the development of a player suitable to store and handle them.
"The technology exists," said Young. "The internet is fast enough to support it. […] And you could store like 30 albums at high-res in a small device that you could carry around in your pocket like an iPhone."
Asked whether he ever approached Jobs about the project, Young acknowledged that he had indeed spoken with the late Apple co-founder and that the two were "working on it" prior to his passing last year but admitted that "not much" has happened since Jobs passed.
"Steve Jobs was a pioneer of digital music," Young said. "His legacy is tremendous. But when he went home, he listened to vinyl. And you gotta believe that if he lived long enough, he would have eventually done what I'm trying to do."
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138 Comments
will i be able to hear the difference in my apple headphones? or do i need a $7000 stereo system to hear it?
The extra sad thing about the passing of Jobs is also the passing of Apple's pioneering of anything.
The extra sad thing about the passing of Jobs is also the passing of Apple's pioneering of anything.
I'm worried Apple's leadership team will think that staying the course instead of trying to invent the next big thing will keep Apple afloat. It will in the short term, but if Apple is not actively trying to disrupt the future, someone else, perhaps people like Neil Young who were inspired by Steve Jobs, will. And that, in 20 years, may turn out to be Steve's real legacy.
It would be a natural fit for to have higher fidelity recordings available through iTunes. Streaming over the 'net, voice recordings, even gaming is going to be fine at these lower rates but musicians and audiences want more music in their music.
I'm worried Apple's leadership team will think that staying the course instead of trying to invent the next big thing will keep Apple afloat. It will in the short term, but if Apple is not actively trying to disrupt the future, someone else, perhaps people like Neil Young who were inspired by Steve Jobs, will. And that, in 20 years, may turn out to be Steve's real legacy.
I assume that the short/medium term is covered by plans laid out by Steve Jobs. And there are a lot of places to innovate. Steve Jobs says all the supply chain control is due to Tim Cook. Being able to harness the best on the planet is certainly foundational to any design or product innovation. The best years are ahead.
It's funny but the one constant under Steve Jobs is that Apple is 2-3 years ahead in any product innovation. That the products were so beautiful (well, from an industrial design perspective that is) was just so much icing on the cake. It'll be a new company but I am optimistic about the legacy that he's left. I didn't buy Steve Jobs products. I bought Apple products designed and sold by so many talented people. I don't have any anxiety that this will diminish.