WHO NEEDS HIGH QUALITY AUDIO?

In what promises to be an illuminating investigation into the current State of the Industry, four prominent industry commentators will discuss the changing relationships between the music business and the recording industry and the expectations of artists and consumers in these increasingly uncertain times.

Barry Fox, leading technical journalist, Andrew Harrison, Editor of Hi-Fi News, Paul White, Editor of Sound-on-Sound and Hamish Champ, former Editor of MBI (Music Business International) will form a panel invited to respond to questions from Peter Filleul, Executive Director of the APRS, invited guests from the audio industry and the Sounds Expo visiting attendees.

Peter Filleul expressed his hopes that the closing APRS Seminar would become a regular feature of the Sounds Expo event. "We are focussing on the individual recording professional that attend Sounds Expo and this event will give them an opportunity to hear and question some of the best informed people in the industry - as well as see some of the latest technology in the recording industry."

• Is Audiophile quality only really necessary for professional production when in some markets, master recording is undertaken at a 'mini-disk' quality level?
   
• If Dolby, DTS and even MP3 are 'good enough' for most music and video consumer needs, why are we all so pre-occupied with 24/96 or even 48/192 and also with providing formats that can deliver uncompressed 'surround' - the DVA-A/SACD dilemma?
   
• Will record company business models governing the new E-conomy in music be able to sustain as much top level production if the bulk of the market is indifferent to what we think of as 'high fidelity'?
   
• What are the expectations of the consumers who now have many more ways to entertain themselves than when music was about the only way to demonstrate teenage rebellion?
   
• Could audio quality become a niche/genre matter only critical for Classical and other specialist markets?