“Spotify: portable, convenient----but what about 

sound quality?” T​ iffany Yin 

​ ​From CDs, MP3, to Spotify, audio technology advanced, but what else?  

 
 
Listening to music​ is part of our daily routine. It has been 

part of all cultures and religions that has been recorded!1 From one 

generation to the next, the living standards have advanced and so did 

technology. ​The way people consume music ​has evolved 

from CDs to Spotify making listening to music accessible for all 

consumers.2But here’s the catch. As audiotechnology advances, the sound 

quality improves.3 But, no matter how clear and advanced the sound 

quality becomes, the sound quality is not the same as listening to it live. 

1
1 Wallin, Nils Lennart; Steven Brown; Björn Merker. The Origins of Music. Cambridge: MIT Press 2001
Page 1
2
Gomes, Ricardo Milani. “Audio Quality X Accessibility How Digital Technology Changed the Way We
Listen and Consume Popular Music”. Revista Vortex Vol.4(2) St. Louis: Spotlight Publications, 2007 Page
3
3
Gomes “ “Audio Quality X Accessibility How Digital Technology Changed the Way We Listen and
Consume Popular Music”. Page 2
There is a purist claim that there is a loss in authenticity. 

Let’s compare two speed formats available for CDs: 33 rpm (rotations 

per minute) and 45rpm. According to New York Times critic Howard 

Taubman, the 45rpm is aurally (identification of ​pitches, intervals, melody, 

chords, rhythms, solfeges, and other fundamentals of music from listening)​ better.4

The same claim was made about vinyls in comparison by many consumers 

and recognized musicians like Eddie Vedder---- lead singer of Pearl Jam--- 

and Neil Young.5 As technology advanced from vinyls to CDs, people were 

resistant because the sound produced is not the same as they were used 

to listening to growing up.6 Based on Katz’s study conducted regarding 

audiotechnology and the relationship with authenticity in 2004, 

‘Authenticity is clearly a moving target. Often something is authentic to 

the extent that it has been replaced by something newer, less familiar, and 

4
Gomes “ “Audio Quality X Accessibility How Digital Technology Changed the Way We Listen and
Consume Popular Music”. Page 2

5
Gomes “ “Audio Quality X Accessibility How Digital Technology Changed the Way We Listen and
Consume Popular Music”. Page 2

6
Gomes “ “Audio Quality X Accessibility How Digital Technology Changed the Way We Listen and
Consume Popular Music”. Page 2
more convenient”.7 Katz is explaining that people’s perception/definition of 

music has changed over the years . When the first form of audio 

recording, the MP3 was introduced, it was a major jump in convenience. 

The cassette, the minidisk, and the CD were portable formats, but the MP3 

was no comparison in terms of portability. The MP3, unlike all other 

formats, has digital music files associated with the Internet, which makes 

them even more powerful.8 The MP3 is most convenient and accessible, but 

the digital files are intangible. Katz states in her research, ‘Moreover, the 

intangibility of MP3s and the ease with which they are obtained, 

disseminate and deleted may encourage the sense that music is just 

another disposable commodity, an attitude I personally find worrisome.’9

This makes music something virtual and a less value commodity. It’s now 

something intuitive, which is another factor of how music is losing 

authenticity, since the authentic form of music was once a form of tangible 

objects. 10Most CD stores are now closing down as music consumption 

moves to the internet. This modern way of consuming music however, did 

7
Gomes “ “Audio Quality X Accessibility How Digital Technology Changed the Way We Listen and
Consume Popular Music”. Page 2

8
Gomes “ “Audio Quality X Accessibility How Digital Technology Changed the Way We Listen and
Consume Popular Music”. Page 4

9
Gomes “ “Audio Quality X Accessibility How Digital Technology Changed the Way We Listen and
Consume Popular Music”. Page 3
10
Gomes “ “Audio Quality X Accessibility How Digital Technology Changed the Way We Listen and
Consume Popular Music”. Page 3
lead to more connection and engagement among fans and artists on the 

internet through free download websites like Spotify and internet radio.  

Even the purists' way of thinking----- the “authenticity of music” is not 

how most of us might define music, evolution is something inevitable, and 

our new way of listening to music has contributed to the creation of 

modern culture! 

 
 Reader Response Part II: Metacognitive Reflection

All genres of writing have their individual discourse communities and

methodological approach to research, which affect how members of these disciplines

write about their findings and conclusions. This is why it is critical to understand specific

conventions of genres when translating it. Aspects of the writing such as tone, diction,

and overall purpose delivered. After studying and understanding the characteristics of a

magazine article, I was able to translate an academic article into a magazine article

style writing.

My primary text of my translation, ““Audio Quality X Accessibility: How Digital

Technology Changed the Way We Listen and Consume Popular Music” by Ricardo

Milani Gomes, is an academic article about how the way people consume music has

changed over time in response to evolution of audio technology. Ricardo Milani Gomes

is an independent researcher who wrote this with the intent of presenting his research

for other scholars of any field who had interest in the topic, so the text is packaged in a

research article format. The intended audience of the article was anybody who was
interested in the reading itself. Music is a topic that people of all cultures and religions of

the past and present engage in, so it is easy to read and comprehend. However, there

were instances when Gomes used unfamiliar words describing his claims such as

“rpm”. When I mentioned that in my magazine style writing, I made sure to explain what

it was in parentheses and explain in simple words what it was since the intended

audience of magazines can be anybody. ​Another aspect I paid attention to when

translating my primary text into a magazine article was incorporating modern language

and slang. The audience I am dealing with is very broad and universal, but with that

being said, I know that people who read magazines are socially aware, so it felt

necessary to use modern words. I also made my writing conversational. In this way, I

am conversing with a large audience in a one sided way with the intent of being

informative using first person voicing like “we”11. It is especially important for magazine

articles to lur the attention of the readers, and first person word choice is inclusive and

more relatable for the readers.

When translating, it was important for me to keep in mind that magazine readers

have much shorter attention spans. Magazines are made up of various articles

published by different publishers. Not only is it full of articles on contrasting topics, it’s

full of exciting advertisements and graphics. This gives the readers a greater incentive

to move on if my article is long and boring. For this reason, I condensed the information

to a text that is more straight to the point and concise. The academic article was dense

with information and evidence since the writer is trying to present his research and

11
Boyd Janet. Murder! (Rhetorically Speaking).Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data 2011
propose his ideas for other people who are trying to learn more about audiotechnology

and how it affects the way in which consumers listen to the music. I specifically chose to

write about the three biggest milestones in audiotechnology discussed by Gomes: CD,

MP3, and Spotify. I left out the smaller upgrade such as the Walkman, LP, vinyl, and

Discman since Gomes did not elaborate and touch on it as much compared to the three

devices I elaborated on.

Another aspect I focused on when translating my academic paper into a

magazine article was to “reverse” the rigid formal tone into a simpler and more casual

tone. As I mentioned earlier, keeping the number of words to a minimum was important

when converting to a magazine article style of writing since magazine articles are

usually around 1000 words. It is also important to write in a more casual tone in order to

keep the readers engaged since the people read magazine articles in order to be

informed but also entertained. Since this style of writing is less formal, I also used

parentheses to explain anything that might be confusing for the readers.The purpose of

this is to make sure the reader isn’t confused to keep them engaged. The reader might

become disinterested out of confusion. This would not be allowed in formal scholarly

articles, but I was able to work around this rule because this article is a casual style of

writing where the main object of the writing is to inform and entertain. The magazine

discourse community is different based on the subject. For example, for my particular

article, the audience is universal. As a writer, I did not use jargon because my intended

audience was my writing professor and classmates. Similarly, I did not discuss in detail
about each of the two subjects. I talked more about the writing tactics, which is relevant

to most people, making my discourse larger and more universal.

Academic articles and magazine articles share some common conventions like

headlines and columns. Contrasting conventions include headlines, subheading, the

composition of the page (including grid structure and white space), and design elements

like ​color choice and layout to engage with specific target audience. The title of my

secondary article was “Spotify: Portable, Convenient---- but what about Sound

Quality?”. I made the title a question in an attempt to hook the reader. I also added a

subheading stating​ “​From CDs, MP3, to Spotify, audio technology advanced… But what

else?” to give the audience a clue on what the article will be about.