These days we take digital for granted. We are surrounded by gadgets and gizmos wherever we go. We have iPods, smartphones, laptops, desktop PC's, tablets, game consoles and smart TV's. Just 20 years ago, we would have classed any of these pieces of technology as miraculous - or even unimaginable!
Home and personal entertainment has progressed to a stage where it is almost unrecognizable from where it was back then...and what's more surprising is that we take it all for granted.
It wasn't that long ago that I listened to CD's - I still have them, but now it seems a huge faff to dig out a disc & put it in a device to play. To be honest, its also becoming harder to locate a device to play it on. All those old favorites like Queen, Guns n Roses, INXS, Nirvana etc are all sat taking up space in various areas around the house.
In recent times, one of the biggest things that has impacted my life is the streaming music revolution. I used to religiously convert my cd's to high quality mp3's - then struggle to find a way to access them on all the computers & mp3 players that I wanted to use. Now I have an unlimited subscription with google play music that allows me to stream music on demand wherever I am. Not only is this awesome because of the ridiculously large music library that it gives me access to, but also the amazing quality of the audio.
Gone are the days of the trashy sounding mp3 - now we have high quality audio that to be honest, I think even the most anal audiophile would struggle to fault.
I have also until recently been an avid user of over ear headphones, rather than the in ear type. This was mostly down to an assumption that they sounded better. I have recently discovered that this isn't wholly true. I recently stumbled across a website showing some of the best in ear headphones a little surprised by what I saw - particularly that they highly recommended a cheaper set. After reading a review of the e10 earphones from a company called Soundmagic, I decided to buy a pair.
It is now very apparent to me that earphones have also progressed hugely in quality over the last couple of decades. These have literally blown my mind at how good they really are. On many occasions it really is like hearing some tracks for the first time again - the detail is incredible.
Listening on these earphones brings music to life. Take Lorde for example. Listening to her award winning album - it sounds good, really good...a lot better than you would expect a modern pop act to sound.
If I had access to this kind of audio quality when I was growing up I think it possibly would have been wasted on me - now, though, I can truly appreciate it!
Home and personal entertainment has progressed to a stage where it is almost unrecognizable from where it was back then...and what's more surprising is that we take it all for granted.
It wasn't that long ago that I listened to CD's - I still have them, but now it seems a huge faff to dig out a disc & put it in a device to play. To be honest, its also becoming harder to locate a device to play it on. All those old favorites like Queen, Guns n Roses, INXS, Nirvana etc are all sat taking up space in various areas around the house.
In recent times, one of the biggest things that has impacted my life is the streaming music revolution. I used to religiously convert my cd's to high quality mp3's - then struggle to find a way to access them on all the computers & mp3 players that I wanted to use. Now I have an unlimited subscription with google play music that allows me to stream music on demand wherever I am. Not only is this awesome because of the ridiculously large music library that it gives me access to, but also the amazing quality of the audio.
Gone are the days of the trashy sounding mp3 - now we have high quality audio that to be honest, I think even the most anal audiophile would struggle to fault.
I have also until recently been an avid user of over ear headphones, rather than the in ear type. This was mostly down to an assumption that they sounded better. I have recently discovered that this isn't wholly true. I recently stumbled across a website showing some of the best in ear headphones a little surprised by what I saw - particularly that they highly recommended a cheaper set. After reading a review of the e10 earphones from a company called Soundmagic, I decided to buy a pair.
It is now very apparent to me that earphones have also progressed hugely in quality over the last couple of decades. These have literally blown my mind at how good they really are. On many occasions it really is like hearing some tracks for the first time again - the detail is incredible.
Listening on these earphones brings music to life. Take Lorde for example. Listening to her award winning album - it sounds good, really good...a lot better than you would expect a modern pop act to sound.
If I had access to this kind of audio quality when I was growing up I think it possibly would have been wasted on me - now, though, I can truly appreciate it!