The Move To Make Hi-Res Audio Mainstream

Sony created Hi-Res audio as they have created many technologies.....but in this case they decided to pass it on to the Japanese Audio Society to set it up as a standard for the audio industry.We presented recently Sony's quest for Hi-Res audio .....guess what.....it is gathering momentum.The Consumer Electronics Industry and the record companies see High Resolution Digital Audio as an opportunity to deliver better sound quality to music listeners,and thus attract a larger audience.It would seem potentially that they might have finally got the fact that they can't sit on their hands and watch Apple and the MP3 crowd  destroy the passion and emotion of music....this is truly about integrity and providing  the music listener with a better experience.

Sony,Universal Music Group,The Digital Entertainment Group,and the engineers and producers wing of the Academy For The Recording Arts and Sciences (in other words - The Grammies) held a symposium on June1 in the fabled Capitol Studios Studio A.The studios were lined with photos of artists who recorded in the studio over the last 60 years including Sinatra,Dean Martin,Dylan,Judy Garland,Zappa and many others.They presented the fact that delivering music in Hi-Res is an important step in connecting the artist with the listener.It was noted about the music's ability to communicate,and even to change people's lives.

The crazy thing is that the Consumer Technology Association's latest research on music listeners indicated  that a surprising percentage of the general public rank sound quality as an important attribute of audio equipment or music format.So the people want it....what is the industry doing wrong that it it is easy for them to achieve it?

I remember a Marantz TV Ad in the 1980's that won awards for creating emotion about people enjoying hi-fidelity......and people got it.We can only hope that this consortium can figure out how to put out a simple message.......there is better!