Ok, that’s a bit of a sensationalist headline and not technically true. Wired News picked up a Reuters bit about how Bob Dylan thinks that most modern recordings are crap. The quote is:

“You listen to these modern records, they’re atrocious, they have sound all over them,” (Dylan) added. “There’s no definition of nothing, no vocal, no nothing, just like … static.”

“I don’t know anybody who’s made a record that sounds decent in the past 20 years, really,”

That’s one crusty old fart, but he probably does have a point. Some points of reference in this debate, mostly about the CD mastering process and the misuse of compression and why they do it if it sounds bad:

• Whatever Happened to Dynamic Range on Compact Discs?
• Labels think ‘Louder Is Better’, but has it gone too far?
• And exhaustive, but most interesting: The Death of Dynamic Range

I like that this is not about LPs versus CDs at all, in fact even these guys will stand behind a CD as long as it’s mastered properly. I’m not an audio snob, far from it to be sure. My main consumption of music is via MP3s (although ripped by myself at a high quality), which would probably gag any one of these guys. Still, I think it’s interesting to note that even I can tell that old CD pressings (with large dynamic range, presumably) sound remarkably better than new ones, and I really think (with some exceptions of course) most modern music you hear on the radio today sounds the same and is uninteresting. I kind of thought it was because I’m an old fart and like weird music, but it turns out that’s because most new music really does sound the same. Huh.
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