Neil Young on MP3s being terrible

This Wired article worms its way into the audiophile rabbit hole, but I'd think even the casual music-listener would be interested to know that "...MP3s weren't good enough for Steve Jobs. According to Young, even Jobs himself wasn't satisfied with the sound quality of the iPod. The late Apple CEO, famously a music-lover and audiophile, preferred to listen to vinyl records instead of digital files."

Basically I feel like I need both, the iPod and vinyl. But if at all possible I try to find 320kbps MP3s. I really think it's all about paying attention (this is a much bigger beast; so much of life seems to be about the ability to focus and pay attention). If you are honestly paying attention there is no question that a low-quality digital music file is painful to your ears.

My eldest brother and I tend to have a similar good-natured argument every Christmas when the family is together and playing cards or something. He likes the convenience of throwing on Pandora and letting music shuffle around without having to do anything, which I think has its merits. He doesn't like how you have to flip the record, or swap in a new one when one ends. I tend to think that makes you appreciate the silences (and rest your ears), like an intermission at a play. I'm sure my brother would concede that vinyl sound-quality, as long as the record isn't totally ruined, is light years ahead of Pandora. But what really makes me uneasy about Pandora is that it's a robot telling you what music you will probably enjoy based on some algorithm, or based on really broad genres like "rock" or "punk", which can mean absolutely anything. I don't even know what station I was on, but Pandora once shuffled me from Nirvana to Nickleback. I'm pretty sure that was the last time I used Pandora. I know you can give stuff you don't like a thumbs-down and it gets factored in to what gets thrown at you. But, it's still a computer. Par exemple, if I thumbs-down a newer Queens of the Stone-age song that I don't like, it's probably not going to toss me anything from their album Songs for the Deaf, which I absolutely love. I need a human element.

The other thing to consider here is that maybe my brother just isn't as thrilled about the music in our parents' vinyl collection as I am.

Also, that pic of Neil Young for the Wired article is incredible. The man still has the wild fire in his eyes!