This morning the radio informed us that both the Snake Pass & the Cat & Fiddle were closed by snow & ice, but when I opened the curtains there was nothing but damp down here
Obviously no temperature inversions then
Something made medium wave go funny last night, though on this occasion the problem was solved by just turning the set through 90ยบ
Which meant I heard Paul Gambaccini make the interesting point, during a discussion about downloads, that today’s young are the first generation not to go for the better quality option. Sound quality that is. And crucially, they prefer the facilities offered by the computer to the superior sound of digital radio
I do not think it is just the young – if I am to give up analogue radio, I would much prefer to go for wi-fi. Digital seems just too expensive & unreliable
But then I have always preferred to go for quality of content rather than sound
LPs came in when I was still a child, and they were certainly a welcome improvement over scratchy 78s which might not even manage to fit a whole movement on a single side
EMI started to offer special high quality LPs which cost the then enormous sum of £3 or £4. My father, who knew about such things, splashed out on one, then got embroiled in an acrimonious correspondence in which he maintained that the quality did not live up to his expectations
Although I was naturally on his side, I did learn that I would not have chosen that particular recording because I did not like the conductor’s over-lush interpretation
Nor did I ever really learn to love cd’s. Real live music sounds nothing like that, & for me it was too often like hearing Earl Wild’s Campanella – wonderful, but one needs a balance of other flavours to make for true appreciation
