Beware of Geeks Bearing Grifts!

David Heath
Monday, 24 March 2008 09:22

Your IT - Home IT

So, the wheel turns full circle (again!).  We seem to have returned to the sound quality expectations of the 78 record and the old silent movie.

I accept that there are technical limitations when it comes to making portable (or personal) entertainment devices, but is a “near enough is good enough” attitude appropriate?  If it is, what of Lou Reed’s comment that if the content creators, himself for example, invest in the finest equipment and commit incredible amounts of time to their work, how reasonable is it that the next person down the food-chain compresses the life out of it to play on a performance-limited device?

Worse yet, the complete insult most of us pay to the people we idolise by making their well-crafted work nothing more than a ring-tone; some alert that a boring friend wants to tell us the blow-by-blow details of their recent exploit shopping for underwear (or some such scintillating adventure).  OK, I’m a Luddite; my phone actually rings, like an old-fashioned one.

Allow me to return to my point.  And diverge again. 

We seem to have two competing Fields of Dreams.  On the one hand, we have the artists and other creative people striving to produce their best work.  Only to see it end up on portable devices – limited dynamic range audio and hideously de-sized video, with dreadful frame rates as well; such an insult.

On the other hand, there is the other Field.  This is one to which they ARE coming.  Build it smaller, more personal and everyone wants one.  No matter what the outcome might be.

The Geeks really have built Grifts.  Beware indeed.