I love the iPad, because among other things the iBook, Kindle and Nook applications not only allow me to change the font size, I can change the font the book is printed in. So, as I am closing in on 50 faster than I would like - I find that a larger print it more comfortable to read. I can adjust the color of the text as well as the color of the paper to allow for reading in darkness or bright areas. I can make the 'paper' sepia or white, in some applicatiosn I can make the paper any color I like, and the text any color as well - for some, this is a recipe for disaster.
I'm impressed that a $200 stereo would show the differences between vinyl and CD. I haven't listened to vinyl in close to 20 years. But, the sophistication found in even the lower-end receivers is vastly superior to what it was back in 'the day'. I'll accept your good word on the difference with today's receiver - but would be skeptical if you were using a $200 receiver from the early 80's.
I haven't purchased a CD in close to 20 years; not because my income has gone down - it's that my tastes have remained locked. Much of what passes for music today is just noise to my ears. I would be curious to know how a Telarc CD compares against a similar vinyl recording.
Some of my co-workers have e-readers, none of them impress me in the slightest. The iPad being a touch screen puts me off immediately, I live in sweat country and I don’t want my fingerprints between me and the content, and the thing looks very shiny too, I like to read outside. Kindle looks about the best for viewing, but it lacks the contrast of paper. And of course the punchline is I’m a library book sale guy, I regularly get 3 tote bags worth of books for around $40, I just can’t emotionally justify spending 3 trips to the library book sale on a reader that I’d still have to go get the books.
Audio technology has improved dramatically. My MP3 player has a speaker on it that’s about the size of a pencil eraser and that little thing gives out a higher fidelity than my first boombox in the 80s, and can crank a pretty impressive volume too. It’s really kind of stunning. Over the past handful of years when I head out to the pool to do some reading I’ve moved from hauling out a boombox with a bunch of CDs to a 4 GB MP3 player and speakers, to a 32GB MP3 with its own speaker, and every step has given better sound than the previous.
I’m still buying music constantly. Lots of great music comes out regularly. The only real difference between now and the “hey day” is that the radio stations of the country have gone to crap, where once good music got radio play now it doesn’t, but if you put in the effort it’s still out there. And even if my musical tastes hadn’t continued to evolve so many of the old farts are still kicking around and showing they’ve actually learned a thing or two. Which actually spins back to the technology, not only has personal audio gotten better, concert audio has gotten better too. I think a lot of the old farts haven’t hung it up because they like the new toys, any guitar players that heard to new amps and speakers really wants to plug into them.