A Fan of Mobile/Exxon, Time/Life

Corporate conglomerates? In a nation that created the Baby Bells not that long ago, it seems the philosophy of business has changed. It doesn't make much sense. Only in cases of ultra high profile companies like Microsoft does the government deem it necessary to break them up. I guess it helps to have some lawsuits in the pudding. Bullying Netscape and demanding computer hardware manufacturers bundle internet Explorer into Windows was enough to merit judicial scrutiny from the Federal government. They went on to win the case against Bill Gates, and the company seems never to have recovered. Of course Bill still has more money than God, but like the .com internet bubble when you shove your fist up their ass things are never really the same. I talked my parents into buying some Microsoft stock thinking their version of the X-
Box would blow doors on the Sony version, but as in the case of Apple, software manufacturers don't always know how to build hardware and vice versa. The Apple computer has always been expensive, but that is because their hardware is superior. I have never owned a PC, and I don't want one. As a musician and composer hardware determines the quality of your product, that being digital audio. When I first got into "digital" audio, it took a while to figure it all out. The basic premise was use the computer as a digital recorder synced to MIDI tracks. MIDI has been around for a while, and back in the 80's when times were good analog audio and huge MIDI keyboard systems were driving the commercial music industry. That's when bands were big money, and their live shows were really live. There may have been a scant sequencer on stage in a few of those bands, but for the most part bands could still play. Music schools were still highly respected entities, because back then hacks weren't cranking out the corporate driven, Payola supported, pop boy band dribble. Things were different then. Things were better. Then Pro Tools replaced the 24 track Sony analog multi-track recorder, and suddenly anyone could record music. That does not mean because you have an expensive recording studio in your PC, all of a sudden the soul, experience, and artistry it takes to make music was now unnecessary. The music industry has not yet recovered. The icon of "pop," a saccharine sickly sweet glamorous version of reality has attempted to take over the music industry, because anyone can crank out that product. Just lay on some tits and ass, some jiggling booties, and some taut man meat, and corporate America thinks they have some real music. Not so. Back to computers. Apple is the superior computer because their hardware is almost failsafe. Sure Mac OS crashes, but their hardware is solid. Just look at the cables from a Macintosh computer from yesteryear. They are molded and heavy. It stands to reason audio passing through those big, fat, shielded cables will probably sound good. SCSI cables are BIG. B-I-G! Firewire and USB cables are small. The connectors work, but they are flimsy. If you are trying to produce a professional audio product, you will probably realize a Powerbook is not the choice for you. It is appealing to be able to produce multi-track audio in a little portable box, but when you need to rely on that hardware for your dollar, a big, bulky tower may be just the choice for you. The main stream has been trying to hawk portability in products for the last few years. PC's have gotten small morphing into PDA'S and palm pilots, and cell phones unnecessarily have shrunk into products that don't function all that well. Why do they have to be so small? Bigger is better in my eyes in terms of a Lithium battery or a radio transmitter. Digital isn't always better as people are finding out being duped into buying all digital "cell" phones. A cell still is a little area serviced by a tower, but all cell phones started out analog. TDMA and CDMA are analog. The country as of late still does not have a reliable all digital network. That is why it is in your best interest as a cell phone consumer to have a tri mode phone, one that can utilize both analog and digital networks. Wonder why you are dropping calls with the thin Razor phone? It is because it is only digital. When that digital network drops out, it can't use those former analog signals still in the air. Digital is not always better. When I watched the movie Ghostbusters a few days ago, I couldn't believe the quality of the audio. The soundtrack is built on a canvas of quiet, not infrasonic train noise. The sound caresses your ears and advances the drama and action of the picture. Now we live in a time of constant noise and over-stimulation of our once sensitive senses. The human condition as we once knew it is now extinct as we once knew it in the US. Until the EPA becomes functional and the Federal Office of Noise Abatement begin doing their jobs, this will not change. When I drive in traffic in Fayettenam, it never ceases to amaze me how people think life on the roads is really a NASCAR race. Harleys with straight pipes, semi's with turbo chargers and jake brakes, resonators, and thumping audio systems are the norm. Why is this? Why does this cross section of the American people think NOISE is so crucial to their driving experience? Is it is because they are trying to conquer some invisible force that has literally taken over our lives? Is there some tool in low frequency noise that makes them feel better? Back to corporate America. In an age where gasoline is precious, I am shifting my loyalty back to the driver of the Exxon Valdez. Don't get me wrong. That oil spill was a travesty. Killing all that wildlife and tainting a natural reserve is a grievous sin, but in a day and age where Kangaroo is trying to sell us gasoline, I prefer to pump that product from a machine that feels and looks rugged and hardy. I have had it with the flimsy, PC based, non OEM, off brand gas pump. The modems never work anyway. I stick in my credit card and the pump never comes on. An Exxon/Mobile pump has been around for a while, and with profits of 10 billion in three months, they can afford to keep them in good working order. It's all about the hardware baby.
Back to the corporations. I am glad finally it is being exposed that the huge Payola scandal has tainted American radio once again. Something has been amiss, and it is easily defined in that Time/Life TV commercial for their "Malt Shop Memories" collection. That ad says a lot. Youths are sitting around in a malt shop listening to both the radio and the jukebox. They are dancing and enjoying the music as a group. Cut to now. Individuals sit in coffee shops are drive in their lone vessels talking on the cell phone or listening to the iPod, in personal solace! We are not interacting with EACH OTHER. We are living evasive, solitary lives competing with the Smiths and Joneses. AM and FM radio, that once unifying entity that pulled together the youth of America was bought up by someone, and that "pop" shite I defined earlier has been force injected into our country like a bad dose of heroin. The good thing is it hasn't taken. America knows the difference between jive and real. Unfortunately Time/Life owns the rights to a lot of that music. At least they must to be the only company offering those wonderful collections of past radio music. I don't know if they bought the rights to all those hits, if they just acquired the rights by buying all the record labels, or what, but all that music that is and was the backbone of our cultural revolution needs to be released, again. Most people can't afford to spend $150.00 for a 10 CD collection. That is why is used to be you could go to a record store and buy a 45 for a couple of bucks. You could play that on your little record player at home. Maybe the modern day MP3 is the 21st century equivalent of the 45, but all that great music isn't available anymore. Only a selected set of music is being licensed and offered via Napster and iTunes. Many artists and record companies are reluctant to jump on the digital music craze, and that is prudent. Seeing as bands and artists and publishers all make money on the 'royalty,' trying to offer music for free or cheap isn't practical. Let's hope the process becomes more eloquent and the crucial music America needs to hear will be freed. Emancipation!