Neil Young blames Apple

[Dave W]

Grumpy old man Neil Young blames Apple for consumers' tastes in music formats and players: Fortune/CNN story

He accuses Apple of dumbing down sound quality to Fisher-Price toy levels. Funny, I remember Fisher-Price toys being pretty rugged compared to most others.

Sorry, Neil, but a lot of consumers would rather have decent quality portable sound than limit themselves to listening in their living rooms. It's called freedom of choice.

And all this from a guy who can't sing or play in tune.

When Neil was a young man, he probably complained that 78 rpm acetates didn't sound as good as wax cylinders. 

[Chris P.]

I love him:) And from him I would accept if he would complain about 78 rpm acetates:)

[PhilT]

Through reading the comments on that story on another site, I found this review of hi-fi cables, which presumably is what Mr Young thinks we should all aspire to. Only 1500 USD a pair and well worth it so you can relax with your box set of Creedence Clearwater singles.

http://stereophile.com/cables/207stereovox/

[SKATE RAT]

i've gotta go with 'ol Neil on this one.but i've been called a "Luddite" before.ha,ha.i love that my ipod holds sooooooo much music.but it doesn't sound as good as my home stereo.i won't give up my vinyl.i save the ipod for when i ride the subway........on another note.i grew up in NYC,which means i've been riding the trains my whole life.always with a music player.first tapes then cd's and now Mp3's.in the tape days a pair of duracell's would last a week.with cd players maybe 3 days.my ipod only hold a charge for like 3 hours playtime.which pisses me off 'cause i cant just change the batteries.so i always end up having to carry it around for no reason.
$1500 CABLES IS JUST STUPID.

[HornetAMX]

I've never been into Ipod's nor Walkmans for that matter.  I prefer to listen to music in my home which means lots of vinyl, tapes and CD's.  Some of the MP3 quality really varies and I think the sound just sucks to be honest.  Give me an original Chicago Transit Authority LP on the red "360 Sound" label any day. 

The cable price is stupid.  I just use heavy duty Radio Shack cables and my ancient KLH speakers sound great. (so do my Advents!)

BTW, I saw Neil back in '84 with the International Harvesters.  What a great show and Tim Drummond was great on Bass.

[SKATE RAT]

i also use ancient KLH speakers.
these.....................

[HornetAMX]

i also use ancient KLH speakers.
these.....................

Cool!  I use the Model 17 which are very small but sound huge.  Got them for $20 at Goodwill a few years back.

[SKATE RAT]

those are model 32 the wlohe thing is 19" X 11" with a 5" and 7" speakers.sound so good i have 4 JBL's in the closet.these sound better.

[Dave W]

I certainly agree that it sounds better at home on your stereo. Nobody's disagreeing with that. But people want to listen on the go and they'll accept lesser quality to have that portability. Apple isn't to blame for offering that choice. They're not forcing it on anybody. Customers have decided it was a good option.

[drbassman]

I certainly agree that it sounds better at home on your stereo. Nobody's disagreeing with that. But people want to listen on the go and they'll accept lesser quality to have that portability. Apple isn't to blame for offering that choice. They're not forcing it on anybody. Customers have decided it was a good option.

Dave's right, Neil's full of crap. He's a great song writer, but what he knows about consumerism, capitalism and the real world is nil.  He also can't sing on key and his lead solos are awful!!!

[HornetAMX]

and his lead solos are awful!!!

I've always dug his Cinnamon Girl solo. (one note! )

[Chris P.]

Those one note Young solos do more to me than all the notes of Satriani and Vai together.

[nofi]

for someone who can't play or sing he has done quite well for himself, doncha' think. for me music is more about passion than technical ability. the bum notes add some humanity to the recording in this world of ultra perfect ' we will fix it in the studio ' recordings mindset.

[rahock]

I'm not a big Neil Young fan myself.  Some of his stuff is OK, but I was never real impressed with anything he did.
However, a few years ago I caught a Crosby, Stills ,Nash and Young concert and he really suprised me. Young was the one who did all the tastey lead guitar work live . I never did any research on who did the leads on the albums but I'm pretty sure it wasn't him. I had always regarded him as a pretty limited electric guitarist untill I caught that show. (Absolutely great show , by the way).

I'm still not a big fan, but for those who think he can't play squat, there is definately more there than meets the eye/ear. Why he hasn't managed to capture it on his many recordings is a mystery, but the SOB can play.

Rick

[Dave W]

... for me music is more about passion than technical ability. the bum notes add some humanity to the recording in this world of ultra perfect ' we will fix it in the studio ' recordings mindset.

Tom, I agree, although Neil's passion doesn't move me. Just a matter of taste.

But that was just an aside, really. I think his blaming Apple is way off base, and it just amused me that someone as sloppy as Neil would be so concerned about sound quality.