Compact Disc
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Compact Disc
Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?
"The compact disc promised to be the perfect medium for recorded sound, but it presaged the end of physical media for good. Its history shows that the materiality of media can never simply be wished away."--
The compact disc promised to be the perfect medium for recorded sound, but it presaged the end of physical media for good. Its history shows that the materiality of media can never simply be wished away.
Object Lessons is a series of short, beautifully designed books about the hidden lives of ordinary things.
The story of the compact disc is also the story of the end of physical media. It is the story of how the quest for perfection laid the grounds for the death of a great industry. For in the passage from analogue media, like records and tapes, to digital formats, like CDs, something changed in the nature of media and in the relationship we have with music. Music became code, a sequence of 1s and 0s, a flow of pure information. The material structure of the medium itself was always supposed to disappear. But the physical has proved to possess an uncanny knack for returning.
Today the CD is a zombie medium, still popular amongst certain avant-garde record labels and Japanese consumers. Against all the odds, the spectre endures.
Object Lessons is published in partnership with an essay series in The Atlantic.
Series: Object Lessons
View allBook Hero Magic summarised reviews for this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! HOW HAS THIS BEEN REVIEWED?
This elegantly written book offers a concise cultural history of the compact disc, blending engaging anecdotes with philosophical insight. Reviewers praise its thoughtful homage to the format, highlighting its exploration of the quest for technological perfection and the cultural shifts in audio recording. It is celebrated for its clear, incisive critique and the way it rekindles wonder for the technology that revolutionised music consumption.
Book Details
INFORMATION
ISBN: 9781501348518
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
Format: Paperback / softback
Date Published: 19 March 2020
Country: United States
Imprint: Bloomsbury Academic
Audience: General / adult
DIMENSIONS
Spine width: 14.0mm
Width: 120.0mm
Height: 164.0mm
Weight: 149g
Pages: 160
About the Author
Robert Barry is Visual Arts Editor at The Quietus and a Faculty Member at the Institute of Contemporary Music Performance, UK. He is the author of The Music of the Future (2017) and co-editor, with Houman Barekat and David Winters, of The Digital Critic: Literary Culture Online (2017).
Also by Robert Barry
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