Death of hi-fi predicted; podcast at 11

[unixronin]

"Apple Computer, on the bus, with the iPod."

According to this article, the iPod — or, more accurately, the current ubiquity of music-on-the-go via a small portable player — is killing hi-fi.  JVC and Kenwood just merged in an effort to cut costs and stay competitive in a shrinking and crowded market, and the parent company of Denon, Marantz Boston Acoustics, Snell Acoustics and McIntosh is up for sale.

Comments

[micheinnz.livejournal.com]

Condo associations telling you what you can and can't do

Don't you get that in (some) suburbs, too? Coming from a country where homeowners' associations and gated communities are almost unknown, it sounds like hell on earth.

[bikergeek.livejournal.com]

It can happen in lots of single-family-home oriented suburbs as well. Much to the annoyance of folks like myself and unixronin, one common restriction is "no motorcycles."

HOAs often perform the same functions as a town or city government. In places like New England, NY, and NJ, where every bit of land is incorporated into some municipality, HOAs aren't that common. But once you get into the South and West, where there's lots of housing built on unincorporated land, you get more and stronger HOAs. I could rant for days about how evil HOAs can get.

[unixronin.livejournal.com]

Yes, there are neighborhood homeowners' associations too. Someone I know was commenting recently about getting warning letters from his HOA because he hadn't mowed his lawn in two weeks, regardless of the fact it had rained every weekend for the past three weeks. I've also heard stories of HOA people going around the neighborhood with rulers measuring people's lawns and issuing warning notices.

Personally, I think all of them need to go and get laid or something, or find something productive to do with their time.