The home audio market has moved on, leaving this consolidation in its wake.
There is something wonderful about listening to physical music recordings without using a screen. It's like cursive writing, or knowing how to drive a stick-shift. But barring a Carrington event, or some moderate-to-severe internet catastrophe, its hard to motivate the utility of this kind of "middle path asceticism". "Shed no tears," the futurists say, since not too long ago most if not all "educated people" knew Greek and Latin, how to use a slide-rule, and how to saddle and ride a horse, and we don't particularly miss those things. I would argue caution, not least of which because this argument is too closely aligned with the market forces that know it's far more profitable to charge you per action than per object. It's always hard to know if we lost something important, or shucked off a barnacle holding us back, until we're looking back. I believe there is a sweet spot between the endless toil of "no technology" and the profound ignorance (and helplessness) that comes from putting everything behind a screen. I suspect that the hi-fi gear between the 1970's and 2010 will continue to be collectible for this reason for at least 100 years.
There is something wonderful about listening to physical music recordings without using a screen. It's like cursive writing, or knowing how to drive a stick-shift. But barring a Carrington event, or some moderate-to-severe internet catastrophe, its hard to motivate the utility of this kind of "middle path asceticism". "Shed no tears," the futurists say, since not too long ago most if not all "educated people" knew Greek and Latin, how to use a slide-rule, and how to saddle and ride a horse, and we don't particularly miss those things. I would argue caution, not least of which because this argument is too closely aligned with the market forces that know it's far more profitable to charge you per action than per object. It's always hard to know if we lost something important, or shucked off a barnacle holding us back, until we're looking back. I believe there is a sweet spot between the endless toil of "no technology" and the profound ignorance (and helplessness) that comes from putting everything behind a screen. I suspect that the hi-fi gear between the 1970's and 2010 will continue to be collectible for this reason for at least 100 years.