The lean machine was reminded of this last year, while writing “Music, Mind and Math”, published here in October. Thoughts arose while listening to EstoCast Episode #75 with Erik Kreem and Vincent Teetsov. Since that enlightening experience the role of technology in how music is not only generated but also shared has been fluttering in the subconscious, resulting in the subtitle. Apologies to the Steve Miller Band. Hard to believe, innit, that fifty years have gone by since his “Rock’n Me” hit reached no.1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. Ultimately, how we listen technically now dictates what we pay, rather than just what we hear. So let the gracile guy begin with that decade. The 70s.
He still has all the vinyl that was purchased then. Including 45s. The record collection includes two rare 78 rpm discs that TEM, the Toronto Eesti Meeskoor, released to commemorate their 25th concert. It features classics such as Mart Saar’s “Leelo”, Eduard Tubin’s “Muhu Tants,” and Gounod’s “Sõdurite koor.” No sleeves, just the envelope of the time, hence no info about what year they were pressed, but definitely in the 1950s. TEM’s 50th concert was held at Massey Hall in the early 60s to an almost full house. Also, detective work (Google, natch) reveals that 78s were only manufactured up to 1959.
The musical memories museum holds an eight-track player. Complete with Alice Cooper, Steppenwolf, and other worthy musicians’ cassettes. The eight-track was really only good for drivers. Pop it into the player, and you did not care about the delay in switching from track to track. In the car, the ambient noise drowned out the substandard tonal qualities. Those cassettes didn’t last long either. The same problem was experienced with 45s. They were designed for use in jukeboxes, playing hits. Their spindles differed from those of 33 1/3 LPs, the patent for which was owned by Columbia. RCA invented a different-sized spindle for their jukeboxes which played 45s.
For many at home, you had to place the needle manually on the cut of your choice, rather than use the automatic feature. And inevitably, you’d need to replace the needle cartridge in that turntable (a Technics for the lean one) that cost more than a normal person would shell out. Had to have the Bang and Olufsen speakers too… Man, everything was pricey!
But LPs ruled the musical airwaves for quite a few decades, as prog rock and the themed concept albums became popular. Think Mike Oldfield and Tubular Bells. Jethro Tull and Thick as a Brick. Or Tommy by the Who. And so on. Best of all, you could tape your vinyl onto cassette yourself. Make it portable. And much better quality than eight-track. The reason behind the Sony Walkman being a necessary purchase. It wasn’t illegal if you owned the vinyl. Or so we thought. And the mix tapes. Wow. I still have one with many blues greats, from B.B. King to Albert Collins, John Mayall and Buddy Guy. Shiver me timbers.
Until Sony invented the compact disc. Which didn’t need a needle. The laser that tracked the CD “grooves” allowed for more music to be stored on a smaller disc. Interesting factoid—the optimum length for vinyl then was forty minutes. After that the grooves on the record narrowed and sound quality suffered. A CD allowed for double that. Eighty minutes.
So of course, believing the hype, everything that one had already purchased on vinyl now had to be acquired on CD. And yes, some of the old platters were scratched. That needle… The splinter has many a classic recording in both formats. Because cars accepted CDs then. Now they do not. We digress.
And enter the computer age. Many of us burned copies of borrowed CDs, saving big bucks. A different form of being a pirate. Or bootlegger (“Psst—wanna buy a copy of the Boss on his Darkness on the Edge of Town tour, playing The Aud in Buffalo? Cheap!”)
Now we have apps. Streaming. Siri and Alexa. Talk about lazy. Hey Siri, play “Born to Run.” Then there’s AI-generated music. Not going there. The Shazam app. Weird, how it can identify songs in seconds. Grist for someone else’s mill, not for the slimster to figure that tech out. Who dropped a bundle on a Bose Wave about fifteen years ago, for the quality speakers, the CD player, and the fact that you could link it to Spotify, now merely the world’s top streaming provider. You could just use your phone to connect. Guess what? Spotify, founded by Swedes twenty years ago, lured us in as users and then introduced the subscription model. So now you have to listen to ads. Or pay a monthly fee. And Bose announced at the end of last year that the Wave would soon no longer access Spotify due to software update costs, thus simple money being the reason.
That’s capitalism, folks. Rope ‘em in, get ’em hooked, then set up a pay-per-use system. It may seem like peanuts, but add up those YouTube Premium, Spotify, or Netflix monthly costs and one yearns for the simple old days, when one could just take the grubway downtown and hit Sam the Record Man, buy the latest Procol Harum or Van der Graaf Generator album. It was yours; nobody could charge you to listen to it.
So it goes. Planned obsolescence. Bill Gates figured it out, making old Microsoft operating systems useless. Could you imagine the internal combustion engine being declared extinct? Sorry, your car won’t move unless you replace the motor. And drivetrain. All this to pump money out of your pockets.
It’s back to the radio for this no longer mild-mannered music lover. Give me CBC Radio One for example. Listen to the gamut: Saturday Afternoon at the Opera, Saturday Night Blues with Holger Petersen (a great show, by the way!), followed by Jazz with Laila Biali. No ads, and free. Well, paid for by our taxes. The fraction of a penny from the slender one’s contributions to running this great country are not begrudged. But he won’t put up with being nibbled to death by ducks. Which is what the music/entertainment industry is unfortunately all about.
Otepää Slim
