Computing

Computers have changed many things in the way we do things, for better or worse. The intentions of course always for the better. Being employed in the IT sector myself i do encourage new technology and ideas by default.

From an audio point of view the computer changed how and where we listen to music, but also our behavior in relation to audio. I feel the computer created a world that does not have a speed limit, does not sleep and has no boundaries. It's weird to watch people obey so easily to the computer and reject their own self.
It's becoming rare to find people that still take the time and sit down in front of their stereo. In these tech times there's always something distracting you from the music, updates, phones, e-mail, etc. It's a restless behavior that is typical for someone who succumbs to the will of computers.
That said thanks to computers we now have access to much more music, are able to look up stuff on YouTube for free and discover new music with ease.

Digital VS Analogue

There is also quite a large group of audio enthusiasts who tend to avoid anything digital and stick to the analogue world. Some are afraid all the digital stuff might harm the sound. For example, you only use vinyl records to avoid any digital interference in your audio signal. The truth is it might have already been recorded on a computer in the first place.
I couldn't relate to this vision of audio at first but there is some romance in all this which I only later on started to appreciate. You can feel and touch the music you play, if you want more music, you'll have to buy some outside. Also, it forces you to slow down because you'll have to physically change the record.
It's common I stumble upon good music instead of searching endlessly on the net.

The challenge in the digital world is to be able to slow yourself down and be able to take it all in instead of running around like a wild dog. Additionally it's useful to look back once in a while and review the progress actually made between the analogue and digital world.
In general I feel the analogue world had much more romance and tangibility than the digital world ever provided, but apart from that the digital world was able to deliver availability, convenience and transparency to the music market.

Technically I feel both worlds have their place, the digital world has all the latest 'advances' and the analogue world is the place where the wine is ripened.