mp3 quality

You can even make a point that people now adays don't know HOW to listen to music.  My buddy had a Direct Disc of some live classical music.  You could close you eyes and place each musicians chair, people in the audiance, and the announcers soft spoken introduction of each peice.  The stereo imaging was absolutely amazing.  Listening to a CD you do not experiance the same thing.  The "sound field" sounds totally flat. 

I'm not saying drag out some old turn table and a LP of Earth Wind and Fire and expect it to sound better than a CD.   CDs replaced tapes and records because they were more durable, and surpassed cassette tapes.  People that listened to vinyl records only were not impressed with the sound quality.  The direct track access was a new feature that really sold CDs to most people.  Now,a Direct Disc was an expenive "vinyl master" record and sounded much better than a LP vinyl record.  But the notion that Digital audio (CDs) and MP3 for that matter is the peak of recording and playback technology is far from true.   CDs are a first step, but they did not surpass the sound quality of the technology it replaced.  The next generation of music CD (SACD/DVD-CD) will approach the quality of now obsolete equipment.