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A Room You Can't See

What did we lose when music on physical media declined?

Robert Rackley
Robert Rackley

Terry Godier might be something of a genius, as evidenced by his masterfully crafted RSS reader, Current, and the ideas behind it. So when I saw he had created a short documentary about musical formats, one of my favorite subjects, I had high expectations.

Godier hits upon a lot of the problems intrinsic to streaming media in the video. When he discusses the limitations of physical media, he’s able to make them sound like desirable features.

A record has a stopping point. It sounds like a flaw until you spend 15 years inside things that never stop.

It has come to the point where we are able to see the downsides of progress in music distribution. We have lost some valuable elements in pursuit of convenience.

A Room You Can’t See - a documentary (YouTube)

noise

Robert Rackley

Mere Christian, aspiring minimalist, budget audiophile, inveterate notetaker, and paper airplane mechanic.


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