Michael Vronsky asks:
Neil; Do you think the market for audiophile quality is diminishing, or static or expanding?
If I believe the reports I read it's been diminishing under the onslaught of alternative ways of spending money on home entertainment like home cinema and video games etc. I think there is a very serious core of people who are not going to be deflected by those interests. They may have a wide screen TV, but it's of secondary importance to them. And really I think we address ourselves to the people to whom music is the primary interest. There are a large number of people like this because . . .
Shy?
Possibly.
Nervous? Anxious, Confused?
Probably!
How can the industry reach them?
Pass!
Oh come on!
Let’s hope they find us, eh? {laughs) I'm pulling your leg … a bit.
Is that situation age-related do you think?
I'm not sure because I don't know enough about the demographics re this. What I see in the young around me, because I should add that I am past middle age … but still have my own teeth … is quite a lively interest in music, but not very much of an interest in what it sounds like. Which is puzzling to me, because when I was that age I cared desperately about what it sounded like.
They are quite happy with iPods and didgeridoos which don't excite me at all. They arouse my interest; it may be because I am rather jaded and old now. I need something better to get me excited but I think that the older people who are very interested in music, for them this market is not going to do anything much. There is a small core of people whom it all matters.
