Converge Weekly

Looking at the number of people who wander through their day with headphones on, it’s easy to take for granted the fact that music is now portable. But portable, mobile music is a relatively recent phenomenon, dating back to July 1, 1979, the day the first commercially-available Walkman went on sale. In the thirty years since, the industry has seen numerous innovations, but none as significant as that pocket-sized cassette player that let people step away from their stereos and hi-fi systems and go out into the streets, listening to the music of their choice.

The changes to the way we purchase and use music have become even more rapid in recent years, with the focus squarely on digital music. The advent of the compact disc in 1982 was the first step, moving away from the imperfect analog recordings of cassette tapes and vinyl records more perfectly reproducible digital formats. While detractors might bemoan the loss of analog’s so-called warmth, it’s safe to say that digital clarity is here to say. The proliferation of the home computer and improvements in recording and playback technology (CD/DVD/Blu-Ray) has put a great deal of power in the hands of the consumer, and even the slightly computer-savvy computer user can rip songs from the media that he or she owns with complete fidelity and transfer them to their portable media player of choice.

Continue reading ‘Music with more muscle: The rising wave of digital music’