Tube amps and iPods

Again with the troll thing Tvad? My major concern would be I've had capacitive discharges and stuff zap me putting my computer into tube pre's. I know Manley's not-quite-out-yet MantaRay is supposed to have an iPod (more gain maybe? grounded differently?) "special" RCA connection. So maybe you could go hi-end. Problem with that kind of docking station seems to me to be low quality plastic melting on you, and really low B+ capacitor stuff.

Tvad, I'm just saying there are plenty of good reasons to hate this idea besides the iPod itself, which is obviously in and of itself and its thusness and thingliness, to quote Heidegger, a piece of crap. But onto "lossless" compression - lossless only after you remove all of those pesky over and undertones from the bandwidth and do compression algorythms which again remove "extra" data which might be in a record groove. Which by the way, you still own the record even when your computer or iPod goes belly up. And right now according to the law, you never own, but only rent music on MP3 - that's what the rights agreement really means. It's yours as long as you don't mind retaining it a certain way, losing it if something goes wrong, and then paying to rent it again. This is why no backups. Sounds like records companies, doesn't it? How many indy records could you get for $9.99? Alot. 10 hours of music for $100. doesn't seem so bad to me, especially when it sounds fantastic. And that's assuming iPod people buy albums. Remember when you would listen to an 80 minute CD or three pack vinyl and it was a journey that was a story and had a point, and maybe said something about life? Sometimes you just can't say the same thing in a three minute hit. Do we really need to contribute more to throw away, artless, cultureless shlock that's gone in five minutes? Have you caught any of the Steve Jobs whining about how the record companies won't go along with letting people back up their stuff, and albums don't sell, singles do? The way the iPod is marketed, and with how crappy it sounds, what were they expecting? Doesn't it sound more like trying to win people like us over and the naysayers in the press, rather than actually change things? My point was more about disposable culture, gadgets, and badly made products. But some people don't have space or time or any (of the very low amount required for a decent system) technical skill. So be it.

I don't believe that big music companies are the only way. I do believe it's difficult to find indy music on iTunes. If you're saying you're stealing music, I think that's a crummy thing to do. Unless you know, it's Pink Floyd or Metallica or something. Then go for it. I do like current bands: The Hold Steady, the Thermals, Mono, lots of stuff. If they can play their instruments and dress themselves, all the better. IPods sound like crap, even at their best by comparison to analogue. This is why the Nagra is still king in pro recording, and it's in the editing where you get ProTools. This is why people still get vinyl rigs. There is a perception that tubes and vinyl require more technical skill to set up. This is basically a myth that's built up by people who worry and fiddle on weekends. If you can change a lightbulb you can use tubes. If you buy reasonably ok speakers, Paradigm-ish on up say, it will probably be alright with your tube amp. Gadgetry and the evils of consumer culture aside, it's very easy to screw up an iPod (DC battery to AC) if things aren't well thought out at the pre/amp input. I've seen three or four toasted ones from this. I would worry about it more than say, are my speakers sensitive enough or what height is my tone arm at?

I own an iPod. iHateit. Actually tubes don't just "warm" sound; the physics of tubes makes them more direct, with more wavelengths (frequencies) with better power. I do not mean wattage by this. This is true "good engineering" - not just a nice packaging job, or a lot of knobs and functions. This is why almost all serious sound engineering is still done the old fashioned way with tubes and analog tape. Unless you're talking about people who are talentless hacks in the first place of course... But I don't much like ProTools either. The name kind of sums it up: Pro (professional) tool (quisling, incompetent, etc.).