Bill Ford, executive chairman of Dearborn, Michigan-based Ford Motor Company (F), was recently approached by audiophile Neil Young to build Hi-Fi digital audio into Ford cars according to Mother Nature News. “Three months ago, Neil Young came to see me with a music proposal for cars,” Ford told the New York Times’ Jim Motavalli during the Detroit Auto Show. “Today’s digital MP3 format is horrible,” he quotes Young as saying. “The only truly good format is the vinyl LP —you can hear my fingers bearing down on the frets.”
The Rock and Roll Hall of Famer releases his archival material in Blu-ray and wanted Ford to put music-friendly Blu-ray players in cars, but it’s a hard sell according to the article. “We looked into at Young’s stuff but it wasn’t that user-friendly,” said Ford. “We decided it was a music format that only real purists would know about.”
MNN reports that if you want the definitive version of Neil Young Archives, Vol. 1: 1963-1972 you have to cough up $349 for the 11-disc Blu-ray box. The CDs are just $100, and probably good enough for mere mortals. CNET says don’t waste your money:
The Blu-ray features ultrahigh resolution 24-bit /192 kHz stereo sound, which you can play over some newer AV receivers, but I’m not so sure that any high-end electronics can access the superduper-sounding PCM track … Don’t buy the Blu-ray box for the sound; the DVDs are fine.
CNN reported a year ago that Apple (AAPL) has talked with record executives about making high-def files compatible with iPods, and there’s probably a market for that among the same kind of people who pay a premium for “virgin vinyl” records.
rb-
While I enjoy Brother Neil’s music, I already own After The Gold Rush, Live Rust, Rust Never Sleeps and Freedom in four formats, vinyl, cassette, CD, and some of the tunes on iPod why would I want another one? How good is it going to sound in the car while I’m driving down US-23 at 75 MPH? Sorry Neil not for me.
Related articles
- Neil Young: I was working on new iPod (guardian.co.uk)
Ralph Bach has been in IT long enough to know better and has blogged from his Bach Seat about IT, careers, and anything else that catches his attention since 2005. You can follow him on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. Email the Bach Seat here.