"Dave Plowman (News)" wrote:

In article ,
Keith G wrote:
And it is.

But is it 'audio', Usenet or the the Internet generally? I also hooked
up to a number of (digital) photography newsgroups and they are mostly
silent with the few that do have some traffic usually getting less than
a dozen posts a day.

My estimate is newsgroup use (based on those I subscribe to) has dropped
by one half from the peak of some years ago. My newsreader tells me how
many articles it has expired each day - so pretty easy to get an estimate
from that.

I'd say website based forums have increased by more than this decline -
the ease of posting pics and data being one obvious reason.

Unfortunately it also increases the number of total dickheads. Go to
rec.audio.pro and see my refutation of a 'magic cable' merchant in the
"Hydra-Audio cables" thread. Thankfully we get few of these on Usenet and we
spit them out fast.

Graham

Keith G wrote:

And it is.

But is it 'audio', Usenet or the the Internet generally? I also hooked up to
a number of (digital) photography newsgroups and they are mostly silent with
the few that do have some traffic usually getting less than a dozen posts a
day.

Elsewhere, eBay is very flaccid these days with reams of identical auctions
from traders (mostly Chinese) and no end of secondhand items getting no bids
at all - it looks like in the UK, at least, used budget audio gear isn't
making money worth the hassle of packing it up and lugging it to the post
office!!

Probably because secondhand audio is generally vastly outperformed by more
recent and inexpensive gear. The design 'tricks' have been learnt, the
components cost less now, so what do you expect ? Add on CAD simulation and
today's gear is very good generally at a sensible price point.

Incidentally, when I nearly worked for NAD ( this was in the mid 80s ) they were
using CAD and simulation even then.

Graham

"Eeyore" wrote in message
...


Keith G wrote:

And it is.

But is it 'audio', Usenet or the the Internet generally? I also hooked up
to
a number of (digital) photography newsgroups and they are mostly silent
with
the few that do have some traffic usually getting less than a dozen posts
a
day.

Elsewhere, eBay is very flaccid these days with reams of identical
auctions
from traders (mostly Chinese) and no end of secondhand items getting no
bids
at all - it looks like in the UK, at least, used budget audio gear isn't
making money worth the hassle of packing it up and lugging it to the post
office!!

Probably because secondhand audio is generally vastly outperformed by more
recent and inexpensive gear.


I don't believe it is, once you get past the lowest quality (toy) items and
'classic' stuff (old Tannoys, for example) still makes good money.

(No such thing as a truly cheap, secondhand Sugden A21 amp, that's for
sure!)

Keith G wrote:

"Eeyore" wrote

Probably because secondhand audio is generally vastly outperformed by more
recent and inexpensive gear.

I don't believe it is, once you get past the lowest quality (toy) items and
'classic' stuff (old Tannoys, for example) still makes good money.

Old Tannoys stink ! If that's your idea of 'good sound' you must have stopped
auditioning decent hi-fi over 30 years ago.

Graham

"Eeyore" wrote in message
...


Keith G wrote:

"Eeyore" wrote

Probably because secondhand audio is generally vastly outperformed by
more
recent and inexpensive gear.

I don't believe it is, once you get past the lowest quality (toy) items
and
'classic' stuff (old Tannoys, for example) still makes good money.

Old Tannoys stink !


They do?


If that's your idea of 'good sound' you must have stopped
auditioning decent hi-fi over 30 years ago.


Don't beat me up - I ain't the one buying them!

Hi there everyone,

I've found the two audio sites I use - DIY Audio and Audio Asylum -
are very much going strong with no noticeable change. Good news, since
they're both very good.

This site is very quiet and so is RAT.

As for ebay, I have at least a year's longitudinal data on the final
prices of all the types of valves I'm interested in, since I keep a
constant eye on the market and note it in Excel. I can say quite
definitely that for Directly Heated Triodes and old Euro rectifiers
with mesh plates the market is pretty much unchanged. That's a niche,
but it's interesting that there are such niches where robust sums of
money are still changing hands. Only in the last few days have there
been some surprisingly cheap sales, but that may be Easter.

Still, I'm glad I sold off most of my valve collection and got good
prices. Should have sold all my camera bodies - I'm going to take a
loss on those I still have (Contax if interested)

My conclusion is that there are general markets and niche markets. If
my sample is anything to go by, niche markets are still good and so
are niche newsgroups.

I'm not interested in ready built commercial stuff like amps, speakers
and the like so have no idea there. I'm strictly componants, and that
market seems pretty steady.

andy

Keith G wrote:

"Eeyore" wrote in message
Keith G wrote:
"Eeyore" wrote

Probably because secondhand audio is generally vastly outperformed by
more recent and inexpensive gear.

I don't believe it is, once you get past the lowest quality (toy) items
and 'classic' stuff (old Tannoys, for example) still makes good money.

Old Tannoys stink !

They do?

Yes.


If that's your idea of 'good sound' you must have stopped
auditioning decent hi-fi over 30 years ago.

Don't beat me up - I ain't the one buying them!

They are laughable.

Graham

The problems are twofold. Firstly, nobody knows about Usenet mainly because
isps are gradually closing their servers.
Secondly web forums have taken over.
I add here that I hate web forums as they tend to all have completely
different interfaces and are hard work for us blind.
Now we hear that Windows 7 will not have anews reader bundled. you have to
download one.

Well there you go, Will usenet go the same way as Gopher?
Brian

--
Brian Gaff....Note, this account does not accept Bcc: email.
graphics are great, but the blind can't hear them
Email:
__________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________


"Keith G" wrote in message
...
And it is.

But is it 'audio', Usenet or the the Internet generally? I also hooked up
to a number of (digital) photography newsgroups and they are mostly silent
with the few that do have some traffic usually getting less than a dozen
posts a day.

Elsewhere, eBay is very flaccid these days with reams of identical
auctions from traders (mostly Chinese) and no end of secondhand items
getting no bids at all - it looks like in the UK, at least, used budget
audio gear isn't making money worth the hassle of packing it up and
lugging it to the post office!! (I've got one or two items I'll never use
again but I CBA to try and punt them - especially with the current 'credit
crunch'!)

It goes on: Most websites I've looked at recently haven't been updated for
at least 2 years and no end of cross-referenced websites come back with
the '404 tough titty' screen. A lot more Wiki pages are loaded with
disputes and queries these days and more websites and forums are asking
for donations and subscriptions; popular, 'useful' sites like the IMDB are
so plastered with advertising and pop-ups they are becoming almost too
tiresome to use

Then there's more talk of censorship and restriction at national levels -
is it the end of the Internet as we knew it...??

(Or is it now evolving into the *Disinternet* and is that a bad thing
anyway - instant access to endless everything and almost all of it not
worth the bother!!)

"Brian Gaff" wrote in message
m...
The problems are twofold. Firstly, nobody knows about Usenet mainly
because isps are gradually closing their servers.
Secondly web forums have taken over.
I add here that I hate web forums as they tend to all have completely
different interfaces and are hard work for us blind.
Now we hear that Windows 7 will not have anews reader bundled. you have
to download one.

Well there you go, Will usenet go the same way as Gopher?


No idea - what's Gopher?

All I know is there is no fun in here but what I make! :-)

Not surprising really - once 'digital' gets a hold of anything, it all evens
out pretty quick and soon there is nothing to discuss. It's a pity *bland*
and uninteresting is an inescapable part of the 'digital equation'....

On Thu, 16 Apr 2009 06:34:52 GMT, "Brian Gaff"
wrote:

The problems are twofold. Firstly, nobody knows about Usenet mainly because
isps are gradually closing their servers.
Secondly web forums have taken over.

rec.audio.pro and alt.steinberg.cubase are lively enough.
alt.music.home-studio has bursts of useful activity. I pop in to
uk.rec.audio occasionally, pop out again when I see it's still
dominated by the same few idiots having slanging matches.