[ARSCLIST] Internet audio: What do you expect of it ?

[Roger and Allison Kulp <thorenstd124@xxxxxxxxx>]

A number of recent threads here,have caused me to question just what people expect of internet audio in the first place.There are some people,and I won't name names,who seem to expect audio either streamed,or downloaded from the web,to be the equivalent of listening to a record,CD,or even a reel tape,on a fine audiophile system.

Uh-uh.I'm sorry,but that's the wrong way to approach it.If this is your intent,you are bound to come up disappointed.Internet audio,is more like FM radio was,back in the days before corporate consolidation.Just as each radio station had different types, and grades of equipment,and some stations had weaker signals than others ,so too is there a vast difference in sound quality from one stream,or archived files from one site to another.I clearly recall,as a kid in the 70s,listening to taped programs aired on FM radio,that were so garbled,and distorted,as to be unlistenable.The quality of the archives at a site like wfmu.org,for example,are a vast improvement over what many FM stations air,even today.Same with some of the talk stations I stream,like KPHX/novamradio.com,which I have on now.

Downloading a bad sounding file,is no different from making a cassette off of the radio.I think it's very fitting that the iPod should look so much like a cheap transistor radio.

Which is why I  applaud a product like the Fatman iTube.I view it as an important step,towards such a product that can work independently of an iPod,and will connect directly to the computer/sound card.I plan to contact the manufacturer,to see if the thing can be run this way.

I see it as a latter day version of the all-tube FM tuner,rather than the CD/phono amp.
                                        

                                          Roger


       
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