Dematerialization and Sound Reproduction Technology

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2015-04-30 Capturing the Invisible: Dematerialization and Sound Reproduction Technology

Ball, John Greg

Ball, J. G. (2015). Capturing the Invisible: Dematerialization and Sound Reproduction Technology (Unpublished master's thesis). University of Calgary, Calgary, AB. doi:10.11575/PRISM/25210 http://hdl.handle.net/11023/2192 master thesis

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UNIVERSITY OF CALGARY

Capturing the Invisible: Dematerialization and Sound Reproduction Technology

John Greg Ball

A THESIS

SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES

IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE

DEGREE OF MASTERS OF DESIGN

GRADUATE PROGRAM IN ENVIRONMENTAL DESIGN

CALGARY, ALBERTA

APRIL, 2015

Acknowledgements:

This project is dedicated to my Uncle John, a spirit in our material world.

Thank you to my supervisor: Professor Barry Wylant

Reviewing Committee: Dr. Thomas Keenan, Environmental Design Dr. David Eagle, Department of Music Neutral Chair: Francisco Uribe

A special thank you to: My wife Jennifer and my two children. Mom for believing in me and encouraging me to pursue further education. Dad for revealing the “magic” of sound reproduction to me at a very early age.

Olga Malikova Dr. Thomas Keenan Dr. Cormack Gates Rob Sadowski Karen Riley Alan Boykiw Ben Millen

ABSTRACT

Since humans learnt to sing, and listen to music, sound reproduction technology has been evolving in the built environment. This began with technologies such as writing song scripts for music, and recording sound on objects such as the cylindrical and disc record, the cassette tape, and today’s digital music formats. The digitization of technology is rapidly dissolving sound reproduction into the computer through a process called dematerialization. This new stage of sound reproduction technology has presented a powerful new way to listen, share, store, purchase, and organize music in faster more efficient ways than ever before.

As a result, digital files have replaced many analog technologies of the past such as cassettes, and 8-track tapes making them obsolete. This obsolescence also simultaneously amputated many of the rich experiences of playing recorded music that accompanied them. Accordingly, this project examines people’s social and phenomenological connection with technologies, and more specifically, sound reproduction technology.

As this fascinating technology has evolved to become more sophisticated, what are the implications of dematerialization? Ultimately this inquiry informs an Industrial

Design response with concepts exploring new form and experiences to play, and organize music in the future.

Keywords: sound reproduction technology, industrial design, digitization, dematerialization, music listening, audiophile, vinyl records.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Chapter 1: Introduction 1 Simple Beginnings Background Problem Statement Methodology

Chapter 2: Technology 5 Introduction Defining Technology Technological Extension Evolution: Stone Tools to Automation Extending the Body A Cultural Lens for Technology A Magical Presence Technological Amputation

Chapter 3: Sound Reproduction Technology 33 The Automation of Song The Evolution of Mechanical Capture Digitization: A Free Bird?

Chapter 4: Dematerialization of Technologies 55 Living in the Material World Dematerialization: Spirits in a Material World Dematerialization of Sound Technology Rematerialization

Chapter 5: Interfacing Music through Sound Technologies 71 Physiological Music Listening Poetic Music Listening Extension of Self Through Sound Reproduction Technostalgia: Something Lost Slow Technologies Synthesis

iii

Chapter 6: Precedents 99 Emerging Sound Technologies Emerging Products: Amplified Listening Emerging Interfaces: Amplified Play

Chapter 7: Design Response 116 Process Overview A Design Problem Design Brief Industrial Design Concepts Design Conclusion

Chapter 8: Conclusion 135

Glossary 138

Appendix 140 Initial Design Concepts Conceptual Frameworks Design Exhibit

References 151

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1. Pink Floyd: Dark Side of the Moon Album Cover (1973) 17

Figure 2. Cockpit of a Boeing 737 (Ball 2010) 19

Figure 3. The Singularity: Technological Progress (Schmidt, 2008) 29

Figure 4. Edison Blue Amberol Record (Ball/Sadowski 2014) 41

Figure 5. Edison Disc Record (Ball/Sadowski 2014) 43

Figure 6. Stainless Steel Recording Wire (Overspil.dk, 2014) 45

Figure 7. Reel to Reel Tape (Ball/Sadowski 2014) 47

Figure 8. 8-Track Tape (Ball/Sadowski 2014) 48

Figure 9. Cassette Tape (Ball/Sadowski 2014) 49

Figure 10. Compact Disc (Ball/Sadowski 2014) 50

Figure 11. Memory Chip from USB Drive (Ball/Sadowski 2014) 52

Figure12. Recorded Music Formats Chart (Ball/Morton 2013) 54

Figure 13. Dematerialization of Sound Reproduction (Ball 2014) 70

Figure 14. Physiology of the Human Ear (Ball 2014) 72

Figure 15. Sound Frequency Ranges of Human Ear (Ball/Bridger 2014) 74

Figure 16. Audiophile Listening Room (Ball 2015) 78

Figure 17. Cassette Mix Tape (Ball/Sadowski 2014) 83

Figure 18. Plastic 45 Adapter (Ball/Sadowski 2014) 88

Figure19. Iron Maiden Picture Disc, Colored Vinyl (Ball/Sadowski 2014) 90

Figure 20. Record with Holographic Imagery (Ball/Sadowski 2014) 91

Figure 21. Analog Interface of Record Player (Ball/Sadowski 2014) 92

Figure 22. Apple iPod (2013) 97

Figure 23. Nuero Turntable (2014) 102

Figure 24. Woojer Wearable Subwoofer (2014) 104

Figure 25. Life After Death Sound Coffin (2014) 105

Figure 26. Audionaut (IDSA, 2014) 106

Figure 27. Edible Email Notifier (2014) 108

Figure 28. Pallettegear Analog Interface (2014) 108

Figure29. Mi Mu Gloves (2014) 110

Figure 30. Leap Motion Controller (2014) 111

Figure 31. Linear Actuator by Author and Punisher (2014) 113

Figure32. Technological Dreams: Robot Concepts (2014) 114

Figure 33. ID.01 Task Analysis (Ball, 2015) 121

Figure 34. ID.02 System-level Design (Ball, 2015) 124

Figure 35. Morphological Chart (Ball, 2015) 125

Figure 36. Preliminary Form Studies (Ball, 2015) 127

Figure 37. ID.03 Proposed Industrial Design (Ball, 2015) 128

Figure 38. ID.04 Proposed Industrial Design (Ball, 2015) 130

Figure39. Final Rendering of Product (Ball, 2015) 132

Figure 40. Final Rendering of Product in User Context (Ball, 2015) 133

1. INTRODUCTION

Simple Beginnings

My interest in music and sound reproduction began when I was very young.

Growing up the son of a radio announcer and television personality, brought me to ask my Dad an important question, do I have two Dads? This simple question illustrated a lack of understanding how my father could physically drive a truck and have his disembodied voice simultaneously emerge from the radio. At this young age, my first exposure to sound reproduction was magical to me, and very difficult to understand. In fact, when I reflect more deeply about this technology today, it becomes even more mysterious.

The second stage of my fascination with this technology began around the same time I discovered a love for music. I began listening to many types of music through radio, 8-track, cassette tapes, and compact discs. This music listening came from a variety of players such as: portable tape players, ghetto blasters, jukeboxes, and car stereos. But what stood out beyond all of these was my uncle’s audiophillic listening room. This included an extensive collection of music that was played through a series of amplifiers to a pair of stunning electrostatic speakers with hyper-realistic clarity. This amazing demonstration of high quality sound reproduction deepened my fascination with the technology, and the incredible machines that could deliver recorded music.

As time has passed, my music listening has become more sophisticated, and the technologies that play it much more complex. For example, the first album I owned was a cassette tape played on a simple cassette player, and now I listen to music through

laptop computers, home stereos, the radio, and even my smartphone. Further, my past music collection began as physical objects, and soon began dissolving into the computer. Resultantly, I began to question what was happening to these technologies as they dematerialized, and how this phenomenon related to my current practice in

Industrial Design.

Background

Dematerialization is an emerging trend in many industries, particularly those in the world of the audiophile. This thesis project seeks to understand the implications of dematerialization particularly in the sound reproduction of music. To effectively investigate the implications of this, the inquiry begins with two broader questions, first what is Technology? And secondly, how have technologies such as sound reproduction evolved over time? The study begins with an overview of literature considering how humans synthesize technologies, ending with a specific focus on the evolution of sound reproduction in the music industry.

In reviewing this evolution, a transition from physical objects toward digitization and dematerialization becomes evident. For example, in the music industry, digital music files have begun to replace physical formats such as vinyl records, cassette tapes, and compact discs. Further, such digital files are stored on computer hard drives, and shared through servers linked to the internet. Outside of the music industry, many other physical technologies are also dissolving into this virtual state such as: banking, photography, movies, and books making them increasingly more difficult to grasp with our human hands.

Problem Statement

Given the diminution of these technologies, what are the implications that might arise in

the dematerialization of music?

Methodology

To properly understand technology in broad sense, Chapter 2 begins with a

comprehensive literature review. Building from the work of notable academics, this

review outlines a variety of definitions of technology through a wide range of perspectives. Chapter 3 examines sound reproduction as a technology with a visual and written review of past and present formats that have evolved in the built environment.

This review includes collecting, analysing, and photographing a selection of past formats up to current dematerialization. Third, in Chapter 4, a study of current dematerialization across industries, concludes with a particular focus on sound reproduction.

In Chapter 5, this project explores the human experiences of listening to music through sound reproduction technology. This is explained from both a physiological and

poetic point of view. This analysis of the human experiences of listening to music

reveals modes of interacting with past and present sound reproduction technologies

ending with a formal analysis.

Lastly, this project concludes with a thorough overview of precedents and

examples of current and future trends in the world of sound reproduction technology.

This research provides an understanding of the problem that informs an Industrial

Design response. From this, the design response explores a variety of new and engaging ways to control the play of digital music in the future.

2. TECHNOLOGY:

“We shape our tools and thereafter our tools shape us” – John Culkin (1967).

Introduction

When we listen to music through modern technological objects such as home

stereos, personal music players, laptops, and smartphones we rarely question: where do these incredible technologies come from? What has pushed sound reproduction technology into its current state of dematerialization? To identify with these questions,

we must first begin with a broader, more fundamental question: what is technology? By investigating this question from a phenomenological (human consciousness) perspective one can gain insight into the essence of technology. Further inquiry will uncover an evolution of technologies leading to their current form of dematerialization.

Defining Technology

In a general sense Ursula Franklin described technology metaphorically by saying that it has built “the house in which we all live” (1990). This “house” is a system that is constantly expanding and remodelling, and as she explains, “there is hardly any human activity that does not occur within this house” (Franklin, 1990). She stated that we are all affected and controlled by technology’s structure and organization, and like the dwellings we occupy, these technologies exist fundamentally as part of who we are.

These dwellings of technology are embedded in our culture and form the very real physical contexts for our lives.

More specifically, in defining technology, there are countless examples across

many academic disciplines. The most current and commonly held view, is that from the

Oxford Dictionary which defined technology as: “the application of scientific

knowledge for practical purposes, especially in industry”(2014). This definition

describes our current world of industrialization shaped and understood by a knowledge

of science and suggests that the only way to apply technology is through science.

However, this view is limited as it does not explain the shaping of technologies that

occurred long before scientific knowledge (in the modern sense) existed.

For that reason, technology is better defined by Rudi Volti who stated that

“technology is a system that uses knowledge and organization to produce objects and techniques for the attainment of specific goals” (2005). In this broader definition, the word “science” is intentionally omitted, since before science, technology began in a much different way. As will be described in further detail below, technologies of the past relied on human senses and experience to conceive, develop, and modify them.

Technological Extension

Perhaps the most practical definition of technology comes from Marshall

McLuhan who stated that “all media (or technologies) are extensions of some human

faculty be it psychic or physical"(McLuhan, 1964, p. 26). McLuhan used the words

medium, media and technology interchangeably, for him they meant the same thing. He

noted that “all media, from the phonetic alphabet to the computer, are extensions of man

that cause deep and lasting changes in him and transform his environment” (McLuhan,

1962, p. 13). The extension theory was held by many others, who largely considered

technologies as forms of communication, where such media/technology were seen as

extensions of our bodies (Hall, 1973; McLuhan, 1964); Rogers (2009).

The technology as extensions of the human body, was described by Edward T.

Hall in his book the Silent Language. According to Hall, “man has developed extensions

for practically everything he used to do with his body” (Hall, 1973, p. 55). The

evolution of weapons, clothes, houses, furniture, power tools, television, telephones,

books, money, and transportation are all examples of these extensions (Hall, 1973).

Originally this idea was conceived through a conversation with Buckminster Fuller, who

suggested to Hall that our technologies are merely outerings of our senses and

functionality (Rogers, 2009).

One of the most well known examples of a technology (or tool), that extends

our body is the hammer. The hammer, when held in the hand, extends the arm of a

person allowing them to strike the head of a nail, applying sudden impact, forcing the

nail through a hard surface such as wood. This action would be otherwise impossible

with the bare, soft hands of a human. Accordingly, the physical technology of the

hammer amplifies the power of the arm achieving the specific goal of fastening lumber

together with a steel nail driven through the pieces of wood.

A second, more specific example is the use of clothing to extend the

functionality of our skin. From an anatomical perspective, Tortora (1993) explained that human skin has three main functions: protection, regulation, and sensation. The skin protects the body from mechanical impacts and pressure, variations in temperature, micro-organisms, radiation and chemicals. Further, the skin regulates body temperature

by using sweat to slump temperature and hair to increase it. In addition, the skin detects and relays changes in the environment to the brain through its sensory receptors. To enhance the efficiency of these functions, humans invented the technology of clothing.

In the following examples the technology of clothing extends the functionality of the skin in a variety ways. Firstly, by adding protective layers, clothing provides a shield to the skin from rough surfaces and sharp edges that may cause wounding. Indeed, clothing protects the skin from other harmful effects such as ultra violet radiation from the sun, bacteria, and chemicals. The use of clothing also affords humans more comfort in cooler climates by regulating body temperature. This regulatory barrier raises body heat, slowing sudden fluctuations in temperature from the external environment.

Like all technologies, clothing has also evolved over time from providing wound protection and comfort in cool temperatures, to survival in extreme winter environments. Early examples were hand crafted winter coats, gloves, and hats made from animal hides, feathers, and plants. Clothing such as these allowed humans to survive in winter environments (below -40 degrees Celsius) that would otherwise be impossible. Further, as humans have progressed these items have evolved into more sophisticated examples including mass-produced garments made of complex synthetic polymers.

However, the most current and complex example of the extension of skin goes beyond surviving the conditions of planet earth. To illustrate, one of the most advanced examples that humans have invented, is the space suit worn by astronauts to travel into space. This invention has many functions such as, maintaining internal stable

atmospheric pressure, supplying oxygen and releasing carbon dioxide, regulating body temperature, and protecting the body from ultra violet radiation. The space suit also must collect and contain solid and liquid bodily waste. This sophisticated technology allows humans to survive in extreme environmental conditions outside of the planet earth. By performing these functions the space suit outpaces the physiological functionality of human skin allowing people to survive in extreme, atypical environments.

In the examples above it is clear that technologies, acting as extensions of ourselves, allow us to amplify and extend our bodies providing tremendous physiological advantages over the natural world. These extensions evolve over time from simple beginnings such as animal hide coats, to more sophisticated objects like the space suit. In reviewing these developments another question arises: How exactly do technologies evolve from simple beginnings to become complex and sophisticated?

Evolution: Stone Tools to Automobiles

Long before the invention of today’s modern technologies such as wireless communication, digital music players, and global positioning systems (GPS), our human ancestors began shaping technologies to enhance daily life. This began with physical techniques such as developing sharpened sticks as spears, which allowed humans the ability to hunt animals for food. Driven by the need to survive, this simple tool was shaped and iterated throughout history, evolving into the complex technological gadgets we currently grapple with in contemporary society.

As a result of this evolution, the phenomenon of technology has become

multifaceted and difficult to define. To begin to understand its place within the human

world, framing technology from a sensory and human consciousness perspective is

useful. Ihde (1993) defined technology from a phenomenological context and described

technologies as having three main components. First, they must have “a concrete or

material component to count as a technology. Secondly, a technology must have some

set of praxes or ‘uses,’ and thirdly, it must have a relation between the technologies and

the humans who use, design, make, or modify the technologies in question” (Ihde,

1993, p. 47).

Thus, an example of Ihde’s definition might be imagining a stone in a river in its natural setting. On its own this heavy object exists as a single part of a natural river bed, but does not yet qualify as a technology. According to Ihde, the stone becomes a proto-

technology when it has been picked up and used as a hammer, thereby giving it a use.

He calls the uses that people assign to objects praxes and praxes lead to the cognitive

recognition of potential uses. Following this, the human user may observe opportunities

to improve that object by shaping the stone to fit the hand more comfortably, changing it

to a technology (Ihde, 1993). As a result, a technology becomes set in place and

positions the human as an inventor of a new technology.

However, in our contemporary environment, it seems simplistic to position a

simple stone tool (or hammer) as a technology, yet it is useful to begin here. From this

starting point we discover how the seemingly simple proto-technologies of the past have

rapidly evolved into the complex, highly convergent products we use today. Consider

the smart rifle, or precision guided firearm, for example. This complex technological

object has many functions, to safely discharge bullets from their casings, to scope prey

at long distances, to provide an automated point and shoot interface with high accuracy,

and finally to gather real time ballistics data through the rifle’s Wi-Fi signal. The smart rifle is a sophisticated legacy of the simple stone projectile tool.

In describing this, one can look at how stone tools have evolved to become one

of the parts of a complex device such as the smart rifle. By having a use assigned to it, a

stone allows a mechanical advantage in achieving the task of applying blunt force to an object. This starts rather simply as the tool might be used for limited uses like shaping other stones or crushing and separating shells from food. Once invented, technologies

(such as the stone hammer) become part of a human inventory of knowledge that is shared culturally and with offspring. Over time, such knowledge continually expands and is remodelled (Franklin, 1990) into ever more sophisticated tools.

As these expansions continue, technologies become more complex, increasingly implemented in combination with other found technologies. For example, the hammer, when combined with the invention of gunpowder becomes a rifle. In this example the spring and mechanical assembly inside the rifle, become parts of the firing pin directing kinetic energy to strike and ignite the primer inside a bullet casing.

This example points out how past hammer technology becomes part of a greater, more complex system of technology enabling a gun to discharge a bullet. As these technological layers continue to stack up over time we find even more sophistication

and complexity within them. Today such sophistication includes rifles with telescopic

sights, global positioning, and automated ballistic calculations.

In building a general framework around how tools like the hammer have evolved

into complex automated machines such as the smart rifle, Bloomfield (1995) observed three stages of technological evolution: tools, machines, and automation. These three distinctions provide insight into the development of technologies from early stone tools to today’s wireless gadgets.

Beginning with the tool, he described how tools provided humans with a

mechanical advantage in accomplishing physical tasks. There are many tool examples,

such as containers for transporting fluids, hunting spears, the horse-drawn plough, or a

stone hammer. Perhaps the best examples are containers for transporting volumes of

water in a bucket. Containers provide a mechanical advantage, allowing humans to

exceed the physiological limitations of their hands by transporting larger amounts of

water.

According to Bloomfield (1995), tools may also be animal-powered, such as a

horse-drawn machinery used to seed and harvest large plots of land. These tools allowed

humans to feed large populations and to domesticate themselves (and their horses) by

settling in one location. Effectively, tools augment and amplify physical labour to allow

one to more efficiently achieve an objective. They are typically powered by people, but

may also be powered by animals, water, or engines.

From a historical perspective, the use of tools was also explained in Guns,

Germs, and Steel. Diamond explained that “human history took off over 50,000 years

ago when humans began to standardize the production of stone tools” (1997, p. 39). He

describes the great leap forward when standardized stone tools made of bone including

fish hooks, spears, bows and arrows and scrapers appeared. During this leap spears were

invented, and then the bow and arrow, which allowed the spear to be airborne,

permitting the hunting of dangerous prey at safer distances (Diamond, 1997).

Similarly, verbal communication arose around the same time that tools and

human societies shifted from pre-cultural to cultural (Hall, 1973). The pace of this

technological leap is attributed to “the perfection of the voice box and hence for the

anatomical basis of modern language, on which the exercise of human creativity is so

dependant” (Diamond, 1997, p. 40). Diamond writes that human creativity and

technological innovation hinge on our powerful ability to communicate knowledge.

Within cultures, both past and present, communication assisted in the development of

sophisticating simple stone tools into complex machines such as the smart rifle.

Secondly, Bloomfield (1995), described the next stage of technological evolution as machines, which became a big part of the industrial revolution in the late

1700s. A machine (or a self-powered machine, to be more precise) is a device that is

substituted for the element of human (or animal) physical effort. These artificial devices require human control over functionality and how power is directed or applied. Growing from the advantages of tools, machines allow humans to tremendously exceed the limitations of their bodies. Machines became widespread with the industrial revolution.

Moreover, the machine age brought about many more examples including cars,

trains, computers, and the gramophone. The train and the automobile made it possible to

travel much longer distances than otherwise could be travelled on foot. As a result of such machine technologies, colder climate populations such as those in Canada are able to consume otherwise unobtainable fresh foods grown thousands of miles away in warmer climates. This has led to a wider variety of food availability around the globe.

As result of machines, humans are able to far exceed the physiological limitations of their bodies through the use of a self-powered device to supply the physical effort.

Lastly, Bloomfield (1995) referred to the third stage of evolution as automation.

This was defined as a machine that removes the former element of human control or operator with an automatic algorithm (Bloomfield, 1995; Diamond, 1997). Examples include digital watches, pacemakers, computer programs, and the randomized shuffle play of CD players. In addition, the use of automation enables manufacturing machines to control themselves, replacing the physical work of people and increasing production, minimizing error, and becoming far more efficient.

Similar to Bloomfield (1995), Postman (1993) also outlined the evolution of technologies as tool-using cultures, technocracies, and technopolies. However, in describing technopolies (or automated cultures) he described the “submission of all forms of cultural life to the sovereignty of technique and technology” (Postman, 1993).

An example of technopoly is a culture where automated technologies guide, direct, and sometimes replace people in the delivery of a service or product. In today's world there are many examples, from online shopping, to setting up health care appointments, to the self-service checkouts in retail stores.

One example is evident in the operations of Car2Go, a short-term car rental/sharing company. Car2Go has become globally successful due to its convenience and the rising popularity of sustainable transport in cities. The service is offered online, providing real-time mapping of the locations of cars and allowing the customer to borrow a car without any interaction with sales people or rental offices.

To become a new Car2Go member, a customer is directed online to a website and tasked with creating their own account and profile. Once established, the account is charged through an automatic algorithm to the customer’s credit card for all transactions. The website then directs the customer to find a car on an online interactive map and to register. At no time will the customer interact with a real sales person as

customer service is dematerialized due to online automation. In this way companies

such as Car2Go replace people with automated technologies and exemplify Postman’s

idea of technopoly.

Another example of technopoly is the emerging practice of large-scale farming.

This has led to automated grain collection, with GPS tracking enhancing the efficiency

of crop production. In these machines, the operator is also nearly dematerialized. Here,

combine operators no longer control and navigate their harvesting machines, but merely

act as monitors of the automated process of collecting grain from a field. This is a big

change from the past technologies of horse-drawn ploughs, where operators were

physically invested in their use and would pass on their knowledge to future generations

of farmers. As automated technologies continue to progress, it will only be a matter of

time before the human led operation of machines like combines and automobiles will become obsolete.

Effectively, technological evolution from stone tools to automation (Bloomfield,

1995; Postman, 1993), brings us to today’s world of ultra-control, mass production, and dematerialization. Indeed today’s automated technologies increasingly remove the need for human power and operation, ensuring our products are delivered in a safer, more efficient manner. These massive gains can be measured through predictable quality, mass production, and larger corporate profits.

A Cultural Lens for Technology

Given technology's evolution through history, it is important to understand its connection to people's everyday lives. According to (Hall, 1973; Ihde, 1993), both technology and language are embedded in human culture. Hall defines culture as “the way of life of people, the sum of their learned behaviour patterns, attitudes, and material things” (Hall, 1973, p. 57). Further, he noted that “the development of language and technology, an interrelated pair, made possible the storing of knowledge. It gave us a lever to pry out the secrets of nature” (Hall, 1973, p. 20). As described, culture is a way of understanding the world that becomes shared among groups of people. These collective ways of understanding include technologies such as language, and materials objects that allow people to transmit knowledge.

Figure 1: Pink Floyd: Dark Side of the Moon Album Cover (1973).

Ihde (1993) agreed, saying that “technologies are imbedded in culture, and are

ways of seeing.” Building from Whorf’s (1956) study of linguistics, Hall (1973) also

wrote that language creates barriers or lenses through which we see the world in a

particular way. He explained that “we dissect nature along the lines of our native

language. We cut nature up, organize it into concepts, and ascribe significances as we

do, largely because we are the parties to an agreement to organize it this way - an agreement that holds throughout our speech community and is codified in the patterns of our language” (Hall, 1973, p. 119). In other words, technologies become lenses that

organize our perception, and those lenses aid in shaping our understanding of the natural

world.

Regarding the organization and understanding of how we see the world, (Hall,

1973) also described a process called patterning. He explained the organizing patterns of cultures as those “implicit cultural rules by means of which sets are arranged so that they take on meaning” (Hall, 1973, p. 116). It is within these patterns of meaning that knowledge can be formalized to navigate and interact with the natural world.

Norman (2011) explained a concept similar to patterning evident in today’s built environment using the example of the cockpit of an airplane vs. Al Gore’s messy, chaotic and disorganized office. He described both as examples of human-made complexity. He pointed out that to the average person these systems appear complicated, meaningless tangles of chaos, but to the author or designer all is organized into logical and meaningful clusters. In much the same way language breaks nature into concepts, the underlying structure of complicated human systems breaks complexity into meaningful parts. The construction of hierarchical categories can make complicated concepts easier to understand.

Figure 2: Cockpit of a Boeing 737, an example of technology organizing complexity into meaningful clusters (Ball 2010).

From an organizational point of view, technology can be seen as “a system that

uses knowledge and organization to produce objects and techniques for the attainment

of specific goals” (Volti, 2005). An example of this concept is the use of a specific technology such as a fly fishing rod and hook to organize the way one hunts for food.

As a result, the technology of the fisherman predicts the location and technique required

to catch fish. In this case a fishing rod and reel organize the fishing line and allow the

hunter standing on shore, to accurately cast a hook into a desired location. This is a

fundamentally different technique from the spear fisherman, who must swim in a river

and place the spear in direct contact with a fish in order to capture it.

It is apparent here that once a technology such as fly fishing has been

introduced, it can subsequently govern the way that humans hunt or achieve the goal of

food production. The word organization indicates that our technologies can affect our

judgements and the way we see things. This directly influences our behaviour and

therefore the way that we see our activities in the natural world.

In terms of culture, technologies such as fly fishing, become most influential

when we share them with others. When communicated with others, technologies can

become part of a social fabric or way of life of a group of people. As Hall (1973) points

out, these forms of knowledge collectively inform our world view, and induce very

particular ways of seeing the world (Ihde, 1993).

A Magical Presence

But what draws people to adopt new technologies? In The Question Concerning

Technology, Martin Heidegger (1977) discussed technology as more than a simple means to an end, but rather as a deeper and more profound human experience.

Accordingly, “The merely instrumental, merely anthropological definition of technology

is therefore in principle unattainable” (Cerbone, 2008, p. 146). He described technology

as a way of revealing, and thus having poiesis, or an almost magical appearance

(Heidegger, 1977). Poiesis is described as the blooming of the blossom, the coming-out

of a butterfly from a cocoon, the plummeting of a waterfall when the snow begins to

melt. People are instinctively attracted to novel events in nature such as waterfalls, full

moons, and shooting stars, in that they are novel and magical.

However, he notes that as technology evolves, something changes with the

revealing of modern technology. “All technology reveals, but modern technology

reveals not in the unfolding poetic sense but as a challenge; it sets upon nature and

expedites its energy by unlocking it” (Winn, 2010). Cerbone (2008) noted that handcrafted items of the past had a particular uniqueness or authenticity in comparison to the mass-produced items of modern technology of a much more general kind. In other words, there is something missing in modern technology, in that it does not reveal in the same way that handcrafted technologies do. In this way modern technologies challenge us.

In addition, Heidegger (1977) explained the revealing of modern technologies challenging us to an enframement that ordered and structured our behavior. In using the smartphone as an example, the concept of text messaging enframes us. Moreover, when immersed in the novel technology of sending a text message, this leads to a certain thoughtlessness that separates one from their immediate situation. This separation from the real world places the experience of technology in the foreground, pushing awareness of surroundings and the presence of others to the background.

Davis (1998) also explained a magical element in technologies that have disappeared with the advent of quantitative science and its application to human knowledge. This can be understood in the phenomenon of invisible technologies such as

electricity. He suggests that although we can measure, capture, and utilize electricity, we do not truly understand where it comes from. In other words, our technologies are often informed by our scientific knowledge of the world, but this does not mean that we truly understand the origin of them. He contends that this lack of explanation often leads to the mysterious and spiritual dimension we term magic.

Interestingly, magic occurs only in reference to an individual's known world.

This was best explained by Clarke (1962) noting that any technology, sufficiently advanced, can appear as magic to the unfamiliar. In his book, Clarke explained how people of the year 1900 would find technologies of today “not merely incredible, but incomprehensible to the keenest scientific brains of the time” (Clarke, 1962, p. 146). As an example, he imagines travelling back in time to show a late nineteenth-century scientist how today’s nuclear energy is created. From their understanding of the world, this technology would seem impossible and would likely be perceived as magical.

Ihde (1993) went further, discussing how seemingly magical inventions in materials and elements were discovered long before our modern scientific understanding of them. In the invention of fire, he explained how early humans learned the ‘praxes’ of rubbing sticks together to create a flame that could produce heat and light and cook food. It was thousands of years later that the knowledge lens of science began to quantify and explain the physics and chemistry of fire. From a scientific point of view, fire is now understood as matter changing form as part of a chemical reaction.

Interestingly, Ihde (1993) also explained that the spiritual and mysterious nature of the

magic of fire rapidly disappeared following the development of this scientific explanation.

Ihde’s (1993) second example is evident in the forging of steel, bronze and iron at the molecular level long before the understanding of alchemy. He explains that in the past such technologies, were discovered through hands-on ‘praxes’ which led to certain predictable outcomes. In contrast, many of the high-tech materials of today’s world, including plastics and polymers, are arrived at through a particular understanding of the chemistry of polymers. In other words, these are discovered through the knowledge science provides, before they are shaped by human hands.

Notably, now, in the twenty-first century, the process of inventing technologies has changed in that the knowledge generated by science, now usually precedes praxis.

The dictionary definition of technology frames this well: “the use of science in industry, engineering, etc., to invent useful things or to solve problems; a machine, piece of equipment, method, etc., that is created by technology” (Oxford, 2014). This indicates that in today’s world there are two modes of invention. First, proto technologies can be discovered physically in the hands of humans and explained through science later, or secondly, can be conceived through scientific research, before adoption into daily life.

Regardless of how a technology is invented, one of its many roles is to reveal and organize our knowledge of the natural world, breaking it down into understandable parts that we can digest and interact with. When done well, technologies draw people in, offering people an element of magic to enhance daily life.

Technological Amputation

There is no question that the steep climb of technological evolution of the last

century is astonishing. Humanity’s inventions have enabled us to far exceed human

physiological limitations. In the name of progress, we scientifically and mathematically

conquer the natural planet, building flying, lightweight aluminum aircraft,

communicating in a variety of media, and extending life expectancies. As a result, we now travel by air in minutes versus what would have taken months by foot, and we

communicate globally in seconds, something that would have taken weeks by mail.

However, through the literature reviewed in this thesis there is overwhelming

agreement that these perceived gains in technology always include losses. Volti (2005)

said, “Nothing worthwhile in life comes without some costs attached.” Technology has

made our lives richer and simultaneously created more problems (Volti, 2005, p. 271).

McLuhan (1964) supported Volti’s view, suggesting that while new technologies amplify some senses and capacities, they simultaneously amputate others.

People must be aware of this amputation. That is to say, although new technologies may promise to build up a particular aspect of human life, they will simultaneously whittle away from another. According to Davis (1998), technology is neither devil nor angel, neither is it a simple tool; “It is a trickster who taught the human how to spin wool before he pulled it over our eyes”(Davis, 1998, p. 9). He rightly explained that although we are captivated by the magical presence of bright, shiny products loaded with new technologies, there is a dark side in adopting them.

In addition, it is important to be wary of the taken-for-granted assumptions of

new technologies. Nikoforuk (2012) discussed the taken-for-granted in Energy of

Slaves: Oil and the New Servitude, suggesting that people use technologies such as oil

and gas production as “inanimate servants and entitlements” (Nikoforuk (2012). In

other words, people purchase technologies powered by oil with little regard for the

environmental costs associated with them. Consider, that when consumers shop for fuel,

they rarely relate a litre of gasoline with the hectares of natural forest that were

destroyed to create it. The concept of cost, within the taken-for-granted framework,

only measures immediate economic costs, ignoring environmental and meta-economic

impacts.

Nikoforuk (2012) also suggested that our tools and machines actually control us.

He noted, “Machines are the planet’s dominant creatures, with humans as their servants.” An example of this is automobile owners who spend a large portion of their lives fuelling, washing, vacuuming and travelling in cars. This doesn’t include the hours needed to “buy, operate and repair the vehicle.” According to Nikoforuk (2012), the typical American devotes 1,600 hours a year to his car to drive only 7500 miles. From this view, the cost of owning a technology not only equals the monetary price tag, but the time taken from one’s life in order to maintain and use it.

What becomes even more haunting is Heidegger’s (1977) claim that humans

become standing reserves to their own technologies. Heidegger is understood to say that

“the driving idea of modern technology is to order what there is as standing reserve”

(Cerbone, 2008, p. 145). Winn (2010) used an example of an airliner on an asphalt

runway that is situated and ready for take-off to explain standing reserve. He notes that

this mastery of nature’s energy holds it captive in the form of machine powered

technology. Further, he suggests that humans themselves are much like the airliner

sitting as standing reserves or human resources. From this point of view, television viewing and media consumption harvest people’s lives, transforming them into consumers of technology, and thus, resources for the technology, for without viewers, television media has no reason to exist.

This idea connects well with technological determinism or the belief that technology acts as an independent force (Volti, 2005). This theory suggests that as we

become standing reserves to our technologies we lose control of them and they begin to pull us without our conscious control. A modern example is the fact that our

technologies are improved and miniaturized every year. Unlike the stone tools of human

past that were pushed into existence, it seems that the technologies now pull us to

improve them.

If we take the personal computer as an example, we could argue that its

conception was shaped by a social need for more computing power in mathematics.

Charles Babbage’s first mechanical computer was socially constructed, based on a

perceived need to automate the calculation of complex math formulas. As time has

passed however, computing has reached mind-boggling speeds with the ability to

process much more complex information in mere milliseconds. It seems that humans are

compelled by their technologies to improve them every year, and with little question or

evaluation.

Moreover, rapid technological development and the convergence of technologies allow changes that would have taken years in the past, to now occur in minutes.

Schmidt’s (2008) convergence theory contends that educational systems, family patterns, organizational structures, and clothing and food choices are all evolving in a universal pattern. “Streams converge to form rivers, rivers to bigger rivers and those rivers empty into an ocean” (Schmidt, 2008, p. 274). This ocean is a giant body of technologies that are all beginning to merge at light speed. The speed of these changes makes it difficult and some cases impossible to follow the progression and growth of new technologies. From this view, technological progress appears to be spiralling on its own outside of human control.

Further, before convergence, technologies such as music players, telephones, radios, televisions and the publication of the written word were separate from one another. With rapid miniaturization multiple technologies are converging into more complex devices. For example, in 1982 a person could watch television, but would need a separate device to make a phone call, or to play a music track. In today’s world, all of this has converged in one device, the handheld Smartphone. Similar convergences are happening in numerous other areas and are happening so rapidly that the human mind can no longer comprehend such progress.

Keenan (2014) wrote about the creeping nature of technologies in his book

Technocreep. He suggested that “most technology is not what it seems. It’s more than that, with the wheels turning within wheels and systems interlocking in ways that most people don’t know exist” (Keenan, 2014) . Keenan contended that technologies can be

used to achieve grand outcomes, but can also be used in ways we do not expect. These include video surveillance and internet tracking of consumer behavior. The creepy part is that all of this is done surreptitiously and without our direct consent.

Taking matters further, futurists such as Raymond Kurzweil (1999) predicted that by 2029 the human world may have progressed technologically so far that an artificial intelligence that is 1000 times more intelligent than the human brain will exist.

He references one of the central concepts of science fiction that applies here, depicting a world where the progress curve in all fields of endeavour becomes so steep and rapid that it becomes a vertical incline. He described a phenomenon of exponential growth called the singularity, outlined very simply in the graph below. From Kurzweil’s perspective, this raises some serious concern about just how autonomous the technologies of the future will become.

Figure 3: Singularity diagram showing the steep climb of technological progress (Schmidt, 2008).

McLuhan summarized this concept best in his statement “The medium is the message” (Kappelman, 2001). Here he argued that the machines we created were not good or bad, but it is the ways in which they are used within a culture that determines their value (McLuhan, 1964). He asserted that we connect to our technological extensions in many meaningful ways, but in contrast these could be used to control us.

In light of this, some concern arises around the idea of allowing abstract scientific knowledge to lead the shape of our modern world. Because of this narrow method of seeing and inventing our designed world, we have built an enormous conceptual barrier between nature and culture. Erik Davis explains:

On one side of the great divide lies nature, a voiceless and purely

objective world, ‘out there,’ whose hidden mechanisms are unlocked by

detached scientific gentlemen using technical instruments to amplify their

perceptions. Human culture lies on the other side of the fence, ‘in here,’ a

self-reflective world of stories, subjects and power struggles that develop

free of nature’s mythic limitations (Davis, 1998, p. 11).

This particular way of seeing the world leads humanity into disillusionment, believing they are the sole active agent of the universe. From this perspective, technology then becomes a simple tool or, as Marshall McLuhan (1964) notes, a passive extension of man that must be used to alter and control the natural world. These extensions are employed with little or no assessment toward their implications in the future.

Artist Dominic Boudreault visualized the growing partition between nature and artificial world in an inward-looking video called The City Limits. The video illustrated human ‘progress’ in North American cities through a stunning time lapse technique. As the video moves rapidly through our hard-edged, fast-paced cities, it abruptly slows down to capture the contrasting, softer natural world outside the built environment.

This video captured the ever-expanding gap growing between the natural and artificial human-made world. Boudreault’s inquiry pointed out that our technologies and great modern cities far exceed our basic needs. We no longer hunt for food, and live in an information age that goes far beyond Maslow’s basic hierarchy of needs. In this

project the artist questions: “Human progress and technology are developing at exponential rates, but at what cost? Where is the city’s limit?” (Boudrealt, 2011)

Perhaps this is best captured by Marshall McLuhan who explained the costs of technologies as amputations written below: Every extension of mankind, especially technological extensions, have the effect of amputating or modifying some other extension. An example of an amputation would be the loss of archery skills with the development of gunpowder and firearms. The need to be accurate with the new technology of guns made the continued practice of archery obsolete. The extension of a technology like the automobile “amputates" the need for a highly developed walking culture, which in turn causes cities and countries to develop in different ways. The telephone extends the voice, but also amputates the art of penmanship gained through regular correspondence. These are a few examples, and almost everything we can think of is subject to similar observations (Kappelman, 2001).

Accordingly, we must be cautious not to allow scientific knowledge to lead us to blindly accept new and deceptively magical technologies. We should choose them carefully, as “technologies simultaneously provide us with more choices and alternatives than we had previously, but while so doing, there is a much more intense burden placed upon consciousness and deliberate decision making” (Ihde, 1993, p. 83).

We must make deliberate decisions on what technologies we utilize and apply concern to the unintended consequences (amputations) of technology as they emerge.

Heidegger’s enframed view illustrates well how our technologies pull us into them, with unintended consequences, leading to a thoughtlessness or inattention to our

surroundings. While using the common the cell phone, or personal music player for example people can lose social awareness, separating themselves from their present situation. In more extreme cases people lose their lives, by text messaging while operating machinery (such as automobiles) or mindlessly walking into oncoming trains or traffic. From this view, we must be very cautious of the powerful lure that technologies present us, and careful where we use them.

In summary, our human technologies have evolved to create a fundamentally artificial environment that is drifting from the natural world. We must be very cautious of this artificial world, as “there is something distinctly endless about modern technology, which is driven by a demand for effective, efficient ordering, which leads only to more ordering and so on. In the end, efficiency becomes a kind of endless end- in-itself” (Cerbone, 2008, p. 146). Heidegger’s endless end was a non-neutral, biased technology that controls and governs us. This idea runs counter to the common, taken- for-granted view that we control it. Perhaps more succinctly, as Culkin (1967) held,

“We shape our tools and thereafter our tools shape us”.

3. SOUND REPRODUCTION TECHNOLOGY:

“Before sound reproduction was possible, sound was a temporary phenomenon. When the last audible reflection of it flew past an ear, sound was lost. Today recorded sounds can be made to last forever”-Toole (2008).

The Automation of Song

One of humanity’s most curious and fascinating technologies is the recording

and reproduction of sound in the music industry. Like a time machine, this technology

captures the human voice of the present, and allows it to be replayed in a dissimilar time

and location in the future. In a truly magical way, this sound reproduction technology can transport a human song through time and space allowing users to purchase, play and listen to music in a variety of new locations.

From a Mcluhanesque perspective, this technology extends (1964) the voice through a variety of media such as the telephone, radio, portable music players, and stereo systems. Over time the listening locations of these media have widened to include personal spaces in the home, automobiles, and through personal music devices. On a

much larger scale, listening locations include public spaces such as restaurants, retail

outlets, sporting events, and rock concerts. Similar to other technologies, this extension

of voice began simply, and evolved to become multi-layered, sophisticated, and

ubiquitous in today’s society.

To understand the roots of this phenomenon it is important to look at the origin

of song making in human history. As will be examined below, this technology evolved

from primitive roots, to material objects external to the body, to its current state of

dematerialized technology.

From a physiological point of view, the concept of song has existed since the perfection of the human voice (Diamond, 1997); however, it is difficult to find its origin in history. John Potter (2014) suggests “an evanescent activity such as singing leaves no fossils” and it is virtually impossible to say how or when it began. Building from Ihde

(1993), a rational explanation might be that human vocal cords were discovered (almost like a stone tool) as part of human capacity in the natural world. While the discovery is untraceable, humans learnt to vibrate air with their vocal cords, creating techniques to create sound and vocal communication.

Alongside the use of vocal cords, might have been the discovery of body parts as early rhythm instruments. These likely began with the whistling and clicking of the mouth, as well as clapping of the hands, enhancing the creation of music. Later praxes such as the creation of songs became forms of media (McLuhan, 1964), that allowed humans to communicate in much different ways. This media/technology allowed verbal information and narrative to be aesthetically packaged, reproduced, and distributed among human populations.

Fitch (2006) cited the findings of Charles Darwin (1871) who suggested that

human language evolved in three stages to obtain the attention, and breeding privileges

of suitable mating partners. As he noted, the first stage involved a general increase in

intelligence and mental abilities that inclined people to learn to talk. The second

involved the sexually-selected attainment of the specific capacity for complex vocal

control: singing. The third, was the addition of meaning to songs, which was driven by

further increases in intelligence (Fitch, 2006). As Fitch and Darwin pointed out, musical

proto-languages (Fitch, 2006) extended from a human capacity for complex vocal control that evolved over time modulated by sexual selection, and an ongoing increase

in intelligence.

Accordingly, pre-historic languages were relatively simple and restricted to the

people who had knowledge of them. As a result of their anthropological limits, popular

songs of the past were very impermanent. In these ancient examples of song, the voice

was free and transitory with the only record existing in the human memory. Without

any written documentation, songs were shared informally with friends and

acquaintances through word of mouth and subject to change.

Additionally, like language, these temporary reproductions of song were subject

to drift. Sapir (1921) suggested that drift was the unconscious change in natural

language that occurs in the exchange of information between people through individual

interpretation. Here the limitations of human memory encouraged people to improvise

the missing content. This spontaneous creativity causes songs and their content to

change or drift as they are interpreted from person to person. Given the lack of any kind

of record, and such cultural evolution, it is very difficult to place the exact origin of

song making in pre-history.

However, this changed significantly with the invention of literacy, the ability to

write music, and later the printing press (McLuhan, 1962). These technologies allowed

humans the powerful ability to augment cultural memory by capturing their ideas (and

songs) in a documented record creating a history of them. The advantage of inscribing literary ideas to longer-lasting formats such as paper was that documented contents drifted less than those stored in the human memory. Further, this allowed humans to share music with greater control and predictable distribution. As a result, music scripts were shared and reproduced among large groups of people who could potentially perform versions of a given song in very predictable ways. As the technologies of writing evolved to more mechanized systems such as the printing press in the sixteenth century, print sheet music was distributed to even wider audiences.

As mechanized systems continued to evolve, the ability to record sound appeared in another technology called the Phonautograph, invented by Édouard-Léon

Scott de Martinville in 1857 (Morton, 2013). Scott was a printmaker who sought to replicate the functionality of the human eardrum and ossicles using a mechanical device.

This technology allowed sound waves to be translated using a mechanical means, onto a stylus, transcribing vocal sound waves to a paper cylinder. However this technology was limited as it merely stored sounds, and was unable to play them back. As a result this technology was not widely received by the public.

However, the most important change with respect to the reproduction of human song appeared with the invention of sound reproduction technology. This included the next evolution of capturing of sounds, with the additional ability to play them back.

Floyd Tool explained: “Before sound reproduction was possible, sound was a temporary phenomenon. When the last audible reflection of it flew past an ear, sound was lost.

Today recorded sounds can be made to last forever” (Toole, 2008, p. 5). Toole described

a physical change in sound distribution that altered the way that people created and

consumed music. Thus began a shift to technologies that captured carefully crafted

songs which could effectively be stored in material objects. These songs could be played

back in a variety of new locations, and thus set in motion the business of selling and

distributing music to mass audiences.

Suisman (2009) provided insight regarding recorded sound and the invention of the “popular song” in his book Selling Sounds. The author explained how sound reproduction technology captured the voice of opera singer Caruso, for the first time ever, and was able to replay his voice on a machine called a gramophone. The author described what it must have been like to hear a transcendent and disembodied voice emerge from a horn shaped speaker of a mechanical device. Much like being visited by a ghost of the past, sound reproduction technology offered a magical experience to its listeners. Echoing Clarke’s (1962) sentiment, this technology was sufficiently advanced for its time and appeared as magic to unfamiliar listeners. The magic existed in the seemingly inexplicable ability to capture sound on a physical object, freezing it in time, and negating its temporary nature.

Since the late 1800s the magical technology of sound reproduction has been evolving into the celebrity music and the popular culture we enjoy today. As a result, there are a variety of ways that consumers can possess personal versions of an artist’s voice embedded within a physical object. These include: records, cassette tapes, compact discs, and more recently, digital files on the hard drive of a computer. All of these formats are part of the big business world that constitutes the capitalist economy,

effectively controlled by the proprietors of that music recording technology. As a result

of their widespread popularity, music and sound reproduction have become ubiquitous

in our society making the distribution of recorded music a highly profitable business

model.

To explain how this works culturally, McLuhan (1964) distinguished sound

reproduction technologies such as the phonograph, cassette tape, (and now .mp3 can be

added to McLuhan's list) as the “automation of human song and dance” (McLuhan,

1964). In considering this idea, it is worthwhile to examine how a song is created in today’s world of sound reproduction technology. To begin with, a significant amount of planning is required. First the musical prototype of a song must be conceived by an artist, then rehearsed and practiced. To create perfect reproduction, further planning is involved as a song script must be written and developed (on paper or in the computer) to increase its quality. By formalizing the concept onto a permanent format, the song is effectively frozen in its form, minimizing drift while enhancing the predictability of future performances.

Once the song has been formalized, the automation process continues with the performance recorded and then later reproduced. These recordings can be completed during live performances, but are most often prepared in a controlled studio environment. These artificial recording environments remove external noise and allow artists multiple attempts at recording the perfect version of a song. At this juncture the

technology of sound reproduction advances from its impromptu past, becoming a highly

structured technique of organizing, and recording music into a sound reproduction object.

The next stage in the automation of song requires extensive sound corrections or editing by a recording engineer. Following the recording of a song (or track) the sounds are aesthetically tuned according to psychoacoustic models, to create aurally pleasing results. Psychoacoustics refer to the study of auditory perception (Sterne, 2012). Finally, these carefully mastered recordings are organized into neatly arranged packages called albums. By placing music into albums and tracks allows them to be mass-produced, distributed, and sold to consumers in a predictable and efficient manner.

As described above, the automation of song and dance allowed humans to enhance the best qualities of artist’s songs, amplifying their ability to reach wider audiences. McLuhan’s description explains well how the technology of sound reproduction has evolved from simple song, as extension of the human voice, to more complex technologies that capture, store, and distribute music to a mass audience.

The Evolution of Mechanical Capture

As the technology of reproducing sound evolved from the human body to external physical objects it led to more sophisticated forms of capturing sound such as mechanical sound recording. To uncover a deeper understanding of the material side of this phenomenon, a detailed history of the evolution of sound reproduction objects follows below.

Beginning in 1877, Thomas Edison and his team of inventors created the first mechanical sound recording of “Mary had a little lamb”. Edison’s team used a needle to

incise a groove on a wax coated strip of paper which resulted in the recording of the human voice. Inside this groove, was a record of the sound vibration that could be recalled, and played at a later time, consistently and repeatedly. As history reads, the technology of recording sound was invented here.

Like all inventions, this first technique of recording sound began humbly as a very low tech, low quality medium. To improve the quality of this proto-technology,

Edison rapidly developed his invention from wax paper to tin foil, and soon to a variety of other materials. As a result, Edison’s phonograph cylinder set in motion the development of a new technology called: mechanical sound reproduction.

Following the announcement of this invention, Edison told a reporter: “this is my baby, and I expect it to grow up and be a big feller and support me in my old age”

(Josephson, 1959, p. 171). This technology did indeed support him in his old age, as

Edison’s little lamb has grown to become an absolute giant in today’s society. Indeed, the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry has stated that: “global recorded music sales totalled $15 billion US in 2013,” (2014). As a profit generating business, the technology of recording sound has become one of the most ubiquitous technologies in our world today.

Figure 4: Edison blue amberol cylinder record (Ball/Sadowski 2014). However, merely inventing the technology of sound reproduction was not

enough for Edison and his team. To make recording available to a much wider audience,

sound reproduction had to be standardized and mass produced. With this in mind,

Edison attempted to mould wax cylindrical records with limited success. Similar to any

casting or injection molded part, the parting lines of the mold were very difficult to

eliminate. The imperfections of these lines added distortion to the sound recordings

making them very difficult objects to mass produce. In addition, by 1890, a variety of other companies were also attempting to produce these objects with limited success.

Interestingly however, an inventor named Emile Berliner was simultaneously

developing a flat disc-shaped recording object that rotated around 70 rpm. This

technology allowed the incised grooves to be molded from wax originals and transferred

to a metal die with great success. This method placed recorded grooves on the flat face

of a disc, and the mold line (that Edison had struggled most with) was placed on the

perpendicular edge that did not come in contact with the record needle.

This higher quality technology soon dominated the market, allowing sound

recordings to be cast onto harder materials such as vulcanite; a high durometer rubber

material that proved to be more durable than its cylindrical wax predecessors. Berliner

called this new technology the gramophone; “a technology that produced louder

playback sound and led to be the dominant form of sound reproduction on the market”

(Morton, 2013). In response, the Edison record company followed, offering their own

version of the disc shape to the market which soon became the standard 78 rpm record.

It is important to note that early gramophones, such as the above, did not use

electricity. That is, the power to play these records was delivered through mechanical energy. This energy was stored in a spring that was wound using a hand crank typically found on the side of the player. Driven by the spring, these records rotated and the vibration of mechanical stylus riding on the record groove reproduced the sound

contained within. This sound was amplified through a horn shaped speaker that would

direct the sound from the stylus, through the air, to the human ear. These early music

players produced a low volume playback and generally distributed sound to individuals

or small groups of people.

Figure 5: Edison disc record (Ball/Sadowski 2014). However, an important shift in this technology occurred in 1924 with the addition of electricity. A company called Columbia Phonograph Company developed a new method of recording by using electrically driven mechanical equipment. Through the use of electricity, and vacuum tubes, a microphone's weak signal could be amplified to drive the disc cutter that could record and play higher quality sound. This sound reproduction technology was termed orthophonic sound and allowed sound to be transmitted to much larger audiences.

Using this new technology, Columbia Records introduced the first long playing or LP record (now the standard form of vinyl record) in 1931. These 12-inch diameter discs had finely spaced grooves and turned at 33 1/3 rpm. As a result, the standard 12 and 10-inch, shellac-based discs became the top sellers in this era. These newer disc records sounded much different than their predecessors, and consumers responded very well to them.

Subsequent to orthophonic innovation, other external developments led to

electro-magnetic speakers and a new technology called stereo sound. This was a

fundamental switch from playing recorded sound through a mechanical gramophone

(now referred to as mono sound). In this new stereo format, sound could be separated

into two single channels allowing playback to distinguish between left and right sides.

Here it was discovered that a two-channel recording, utilizing two microphones, two amplifiers, and two loudspeakers, gave aurally pleasing results. The aesthetic stereo effect (often described as realistic sound) soon became the standard.

This audile transition can be compared to the developments in television that

transitioned from black and white to the color picture. By separating sound into left and

right channels it allowed for a more realistic sound and much more creative expression

by the artist and recording engineer who recorded or mastered the sound. Since the

human ear can identify the location of a sound source based on time delays in the reception of sound in each ear, this technology was well received.

Marshall McLuhan discussed stereo sound below:

To be in the presence of performing musicians is to experience their touch and handling of instruments as tactile and kinetic, not just as resonant. So it can be said that hi-fi is not any quest for abstract effects of sound in separation from the other senses. With hi-fi, the phonograph meets the TV tactile challenge. Stereo sound, a further development, is ‘all-around’ or ‘wrap around’ sound The hi-fi changeover was really for music what cubism had been for painting, and what symbolism had been for literature; namely, the acceptance of multiple facets and planes in a single experience (McLuhan, 1964, p. 308).

Alongside stereo sound, the LP market continued to grow until 1940 when a

newer more miniature record appeared on the market. This was called the 45-rpm record, aptly named by its speed of rotation, offering the ability to rapidly distribute

single tracks. At this point the popular speeds or rotation were 33 rpm and 45 rpm.

However, many people hung on to their record collections, and most record players

therefore had a 78 rpm setting until the 1980s. That said, the sales of 78-rpm discs fell

off during the 1950s and ultimately they became obsolete. The last of these outdated

records were issued around 1960 (Morton, 2013)

Figure 6: Stainless steel recording wire (with permission: courtesy of Overspil.dk).

As shown above, a fundamental change that deviated from incised grooves came in the form of wire recording that appeared on the market from approximately 1946 to

1954. This object resulted from technical improvements and the development of inexpensive designs licensed internationally by the Brush Development Company of

Cleveland, Ohio and the Armour Research Foundation of the Armour Institute of

Technology [later the IIT Research Institute of the Illinois Institute of Technology

(Morton, 2013). Wire recording objects were rolls of steel or stainless steel wire that were pulled rapidly over a recording head magnetizing the wire to record sound onto the roll. Due to a lack of consumer support, this technology was not very popular, and only lasted a very short time in the market.

Following closely behind wire recording technology though, a newer, less expensive method of magnetic reproduction appeared on the market called magnetic tape recording. These tape recording formats along with the first cost-efficient tape recorders appeared around 1948, and quickly gained a significant market share. Millions were sold during the 1950s as part of "hi-fi" boom, although many owners reported that they made little use of them. Morton(2013) explained that record companies were soon willing to sell these recorded tapes, however they simply could not compete in price with the existing LP record.

Figure 7: Reel to reel magnetic tape (Ball/Sadowski 2014).

In this technology a pair of plastic reels were wound in magnetic tape and placed side by side on a mechanical player. This new sound machine would wind magnetic tape from a full reel, to an adjacent empty one, playing sound through the tape heads in between them. Reel to reel was predominantly used in radio, and came in a variety of rotation speeds. Surprisingly, these were not measured by rpm like their predecessors, but in inch per second speeds. Common speeds were: 3 ¾”, 7 ½” and 15. Based on the consumer response to this technology in this era, it seemed that tape recording would soon replace the LP record.

As this technology evolved, a smaller more compact version of magnetic tape appeared in the popular format of 8-track. Similar to reel to reel tapes, sound is recorded on long lengths of magnetic tape housed on a roll within a single plastic container. This format took a large proportion of the music market in the late 1960s, and peaked in the

mid-1970s. However, “at the end of its life in the early 1980s, the 8-track became the butt of jokes; a symbol of obsolescence and 70s tackiness”(Morton, 2013). Like many formats of the past, 8-track tapes lived a short life on the market before being replaced by an even smaller, more compact tape technology.

Figure 8: 8-Track magnetic tape (Ball/Sadowski 2014).

Invented in 1962, the cassette became the most popular home music format for both home recording and pre-recorded listening applications in the 1980s. This smaller, more compact format offered a variety of new functions to the user including the ability to record personalized mixed albums from a variety of sources. Cassettes were played

in large boomboxes, stereo systems, and spawned a movement toward small personal

audio devices, most notably the Sony walkman. As tape recording technology

dominated the 1980s, sales annihilated the already popular 8-tracks, and soon took over

vinyl records becoming the dominant sound recording technology of the 1980s.

Figure 9: Cassette magnetic tape (Ball/Sadowski 2014).

Digital sound recording and reproduction became the next significant

development in music recording technology. This became manifest in a new, shinier

disc format that offered unparalleled sound quality in the form of the compact disc

(CD). Inside this shiny object, a technology was implemented called digital optical disc

storage. This technology consisted of a series of tightly wound, digitally recoded tracks

that interestingly showed a stunning spectrum of color when viewed under a light. The magical appearance of this technology, and its high sound quality were very attractive to consumers and led to the ultimate obsolescence of cassettes and vinyl records.

Figure 10: Compact disc (Ball/Sadowski 2014).

Digitization: A Free Bird?

The advent of the compact disc took the evolution of sound reproduction

technology to a critical point in its history. On the surface, it resembled other physical

formats from the past; however, the technology contained inside transformed sound

reproduction into a new stage of its evolution. This shift was called digitization, a quiet

but revolutionary slight of the hand that transformed analog sound reproduction technology into a new form.

According to the Oxford Dictionary the definition of digitization is “the

conversion of text, pictures, or sound into a digital form that can be processed by

a computer”(2015). More specifically, the term digitization refers to the conversion of

analog sounds into digital recordings stored as files inside a silicon chip. These digital

formats store information (audio, or text information) as a series of binary numbers

represented by 0s and 1s allowing it to be accurately reproduced by a computer. This

technological shift allowed music to enter the world of the computer and the internet.

In contrast, past analog formats referred to sound reproduction that occurred

before the use of the computer. These formats grew from a technology where small

microphone diaphragms could detect changes in atmospheric pressure (acoustic sound

waves), and record them as a graphic representation onto a medium such as

a phonograph. The most common of these was a stylus which sensed grooves on a

record and played back a high quality reproduction of the sound. Before digitization,

analog formats such as the vinyl record required format specific devices to play them.

Digitization of sound reproduction offered music listeners high quality playback sound in the form of .WAV files written on CDs and computer hard drives. These files

contained large amounts of data and required enormous amounts of space to store them.

However, the technology to produce smaller, more storage efficient formats, such as the

.MP3, soon followed. This format required far less storage space and allowed digital

music files to be played through a variety of music playing devices, and shared on the

internet. This concept is discussed in more detail in Chapter 5.

Notably, .MP3 files were much smaller and more efficient to store, but were

remarkably different in sound quality. That is, these file formats presented “lossy” or

lower resolution sound than their counterparts the .WAV file. To explain this, .MP3

files were created using a program called an encoder “that took higher resolution .WAV

files and compared them to a mathematical model of the gaps in human hearing”(Sterne,

2012). Following, the process compressed the sound file, removing the lowest audible

components (high and low frequency sound) resulting in a compressed sound file. This

technique of removing redundant, additional data was called perceptual coding. In

summary, these coded files, or .MP3s, reduced the amount of data required to store

sound, and amputated the rich experience of quality music listening for the audiophile.

Figure 11: Memory chip from a 4 gigabyte USB drive containing 800 songs (Ball/Sadowski 2014).

The process of digitization also led to the dematerialization of today’s music

playing devices. That is with digital media, smaller amounts of material and physical space are required to store recorded music (Herman, 1990). For example, the common iPod can store thousands of digital songs in a product no bigger than a cassette tape. In

comparison, in the year 1952, music shuffling consisted of a 300 pound juke box that

could store dozens of 45rpm records, manually selected with a mechanical interface.

Back in the “happy days” of the analog juke box, one would have been astounded to

observe Steve Jobs, in the twenty-first century, pulling from his pocket a hand-held music player that could store over one thousand songs. This idea certainly would have seemed fantastic to the people of that era.

As a final point, digital music files illustrate an important point in time in the evolution of mechanical sound reproduction that has shifted from analog beginnings to a newer, more sophisticated technology. Further, the process of digitization has freed music recordings from physical objects and propelled them into the convoluted world of the computer and internet. As a result, the products designed to deliver music are rapidly shrinking into smaller, less visible objects that are connected to others around the globe.

Increasingly, these are becoming more difficult to grasp with our human hands.

Figure 12: Widespread adoption of recorded music formats. Referenced from: Morton (2013).

4. DEMATERIALIZATION OF TECHNOLOGIES:

“The most profound technologies are those that disappear” – (Weiser, 1991).

Living in the Material World

In today’s world, digitization is rapidly dissolving sound reproduction objects into the invisible world of the computer. However, given that the 300 pound jukebox of

1952 has miniaturized into the handheld iPod, we are reminded that humans still live in a material world. As outlined in Chapter 1, the materials of the natural world allow humans to discover praxes and assign uses to objects creating techniques that are soon formed into technologies. These technologies have evolved into sophisticated technological gadgets, such as Smartphones with embedded music players, and iPod shuffle.

In Material Culture in the Social World, Dant (1999) described five items that make humans distinct from that of other animal species. These included: upright posture, size of their brain, use of language, opposable thumbs, and most importantly, that humans live with a wide variety of material objects. In the latter, he noted that material objects “both natural and man-made are appropriated into human culture in such a way that they re-present the social relations of culture, standing in for other human beings, carrying volumes, ideas and emotions”(Dant, 1999, p. 1). As Dant (1999) also suggested, designed objects surround human life and are similar to language in that they are fixed in culture and become ways of understanding and interfacing with the natural world.

Indeed these material objects have historically surrounded human life beginning with handmade stone tools and technologies. In the past, these were long lasting, reliable objects, made to fulfill specific functions, such as a hammer, and were shared over generations. As this material culture evolved, tools became standardized enabling the ability to share and reproduce on much larger scales (Diamond, 1997). This production changed significantly with the invention of machines, and the industrial revolution, allowing humans to further amplify the fabrication of objects on mass- scales. This amplification magnified the production of material objects that soon outpaced human need (Slade, 2006).

Thus, new technologies were created to accelerate the consumption of these mass produced objects. Examples of this can be observed today, through an economic paradigm called: planned obsolescence. This model is a catch phrase used to describe the techniques used to artificially limit the durability of manufactured goods to stimulate repetitive consumption (Slade, 2006). Also termed death dating, this is a specific method used in the engineering of materials in products to fail after a given amount of time. It is a manufacturing model common in products such as electronics with pre- programmed computer chips that fail, or materials that wear over time, and break because of mechanical fatigue. As a result, consumers are forced to dispose of older objects and replace them; generating more sales for the manufacturer helping to feed the global economy and generate profits.

According to Slade (2006), there are two ways planned obsolescence is employed in the consumer market. The first example is technological obsolescence:

which refers to obsolescence as a result of new technological innovation. For example,

8-tracks and cassette players of the past were eventually replaced by newer innovative

technologies such as the compact disc. 8-Track and cassette players are now

technologically obsolete and most consumers are forced to replace their outdated album

collections in CD format, or with digital files such as .mp3.

Secondly, cultural obsolescence is an even more efficient way of outmoding

products due to a changing style to manipulate consumers into buying more stuff. This

technique is employed by manufacturers by designing new styles or fashions that create

perceived needs and social changes in the market. An example of this can be seen in the

automotive industry where new styles of vehicles are created nearly every five years. As the newer style becomes the norm, it can become socially unacceptable to sport the old.

This socially constructed need can incline consumers to replace many of their possessions, such as home decor and clothing, long before they become worn out and non-functional.

The effects of planned obsolescence are obvious when we consider the fast changing world of personal computers and cell phones. Slade (2006) noted, “in 2004,

315 million working personal computers were retired in North America, of these 10 percent were refurbished and reused” or that “in 2005 more than 100 million cell phones were discarded in the US” (Slade, 2006). As the examples illustrate, many of these items are retired long before their technological death dates as they are perceived by consumers to be out of fashion or efficacy.

The complex model of planned obsolescence was developed by the North

American automotive industry. In the early days, Ford Motor Company and General

Motors tried many techniques to increase sales of their automobiles to the public.

According to Slade (2006), Alfred Sloan, then CEO of General Motors, attempted to build an automobile that was technologically superior to Ford’s Model “A”. His idea was to create an automobile that lasted longer and was of much higher quality. This concept failed miserably, as Sloan concluded, by making long lasting automobiles people no longer needed to replace their vehicles and this slowed sales.

Consequently, an idea called “technological extinction” emerged (Slade, 2006).

The purpose of this idea was to deliberately design failure mechanisms into the operation of vehicles to increase sales. Today, this technology has evolved to such an extent that automotive companies can predict approximate failure dates on specific parts such as timing belts, starters, and batteries. As a result, consumers are forced to replace these parts as they fail. This technique is highly effective and as a result, virtually all product companies now employ some form of this technology to enhance their profit strategies.

As a result of such obsolescence strategies, consumption of material products has grown exponentially so that we currently face a global environmental crisis. Ihde

(1993) noted that the transformative power of humans enhanced by technology is one of the most obvious features of the present and is implicated in our current environmental crisis. Indeed within “our overly productive system every North American consumes

136 lbs. of resources a week, while 2000 lbs. of waste are discarded to support that

consumption” (Hawken, 2013). That equates to approximately fifteen pounds of external waste (manufacturing waste, shipping containers, etc) for every pound of product consumed. Scientists and environmentalists agree that if all countries lived the same lifestyle as North Americans we would need five planets to sustain the energy and resource requirements. In addition, the author noted that this environmental situation has reached such a crisis that simply recycling paper and plastic bottles is like “trying to bail out the titanic with tea spoons” (Hawken, 2013).

Dematerialization: Spirits in a Material World

However, there appears to be some hope. With the widespread adoption of the computer and the current digital revolution, many material technologies are making a shift to an invisible, non-physical manifestation. This new and remarkable phenomenon is called dematerialization.

Dematerialization is a loaded term, and like technology, difficult to define.

Firstly, it is important to frame dematerialization as a point of technology. As Heidegger

(1977), McLuhan (1964) note, we shape technologies, such as tools or machines, that soon lead us to structure the ways we use them. Dematerialized technologies are no different than root technologies, except that they have changed their form. Herman

(1990), Dunne (2005) explained that dematerialized technologies have changed in two ways, either they are more efficient, or have shed their physical form dissolving into the virtual world of a computer.

Herman’s (1990) first explanation is that dematerialized technologies are able to do more with less material compared to older versions of the technology. Moreover, he

suggested that these types of technologies in essence are evolving in efficiency. He

noted: “The word dematerialization is often broadly used to characterize the decline

over time in weight of the materials used in industrial end products. One may also speak

of dematerialization in terms of the decline in “embedded energy” in industrial

products”(Herman, 1990, p. 333). What Herman described here is an emerging trend

toward an economy that becomes more efficient with the materials that are chosen. This

can be seen in lighter weight products, using more durable materials that generate

smaller quantities of waste. This happens both on the production and consumption ends

of the economic process.

In the second explanation, Dunne (2005) described dematerialization saying that:

“the electronic object is on the threshold of materiality”(Dunne, 2005, p. 11). He foresees the end of object oriented design through a movement he calls: design without an object. The premise here is that dematerialization offers a realistic alternative for people to abstain from the consumption of physical objects to minimize environmental impact. The concept imagines a world where virtual products replace material ones.

Theoretically design without an object means that when virtual products reach the end of their designed lives, they can be “deleted” from a hard drive rather than dumped into a landfill. In this model there is far less impact on the physical environment. For example, when new technologies appear in virtual form they require less physical resources to create, do not take space in landfills, and are highly efficient.

In our current age of hyper-consumerism, Dunne’s concept of dematerialization should be seen as a glimmer of hope in the present environmental crisis.

From a sound technology perspective, Sterne (2012) discussed dematerialization

by examining the sound recordings as things. He noted that in the past, music

recordings have traditionally been physical objects, and in 25 years they have undergone

a transformation to a digital file format.

Journalists and humanists have worried as much about the purported

dematerialization of tangible musical objects as have label executives and

policymakers, and not for entirely dissimilar reasons. Depending on whom

you ask, analog and early digital recording media have either led us to hold

music in our hands or to think that we did. A similar dichotomy exists now.

Either music has dematerialized, or its materiality now exists on different

scale (Sterne, 2012).

Sterne appeared to agree with both (Dunne, 2005; Herman, 1990), saying that

there are two types of dematerialization: one is physical that can be held in the hands such as an ipod or record player, and the other has begun to vanish inside the computer.

He noted that although these two types seem different, in fact they are closely related.

Moreover digitization places technology inside computer often leading to a smaller

scale, and thus becoming more efficient.

Further, Sterne (2012) cited Heidegger’s essay The Thing comparing digital

music files (.mp3) technology to physical containers. He noted: “Heidegger’s key

example is a jug. A jug can hold liquid, which can then be poured out at the user’s will,

so long as the jug is ready-to-hand. In this arrangement, a picture of a jug on television

won’t do if you’ve got a garden to water. On the other hand, a digital recording will do just fine in cases when you’ve got music to hear” (Sterne, 2012). The point here is that although dematerialization is occurring, musical recording will always exist as a thing.

In summary, Sterne explains that a better term might be micromaterialization since digital files, are not as invisible as they seem, and still exist in tiny silicone chips remaining tiny objects.

Similarly, outside of sound reproduction technology, dematerialization is emerging as a trend in other many industries. For example, in the movie industry, digital movie file technologies used by companies, such as Netflix, have imploded the physical video rental business such as Rogers and Blockbuster (officially defunct in October

2013). Since the appearance of digital streaming and virtual movie rentals, the need for a physical object such as DVD or VHS tapes has disappeared. McLuhan (1964) would argue that the disappearance of the rental store, has amputated the experience of walking to choose a movie in a store, and replaced it with a virtual purchase initiated through a computer.

Indeed, digital rentals have skyrocketed, because the advantages of renting a movie online from the comfort of the couch, outweighs the desire to walk to the movie store. According to Stelter (2014) in international markets, Netflix gained 1.7 million subscribers, allowing Netflix to surpass the 10 million mark overseas for the first time.

Overall, Netflix ended 2013 with over 44 million members, the company said in its quarterly letter to shareholders (Stelter, 2014). Statistics such as these would seem to indicate that digital rentals are growing rapidly in the marketplace.

Similarly, other similar industries such as novels and textbooks are also

vanishing into digital space with the invention of portable document format (.pdf) files.

This has significantly decreased the production of physical books, and many stores have

gone out of business. According to Shaw (2013), Indigo posted sliding earnings in 2013

for two consecutive years forcing them to close many of their brick and mortar

bookstores.

In a similar way, the contemporary classroom is also phasing out paper hand-out

sheets in favor of online engines like D2L and Blackboard. This technology allows

students to read .pdf documents and communicate with their teachers through computers

and hand-held devices. From an environmental point of view, the technology of the .pdf file is transforming physical hand-outs and reading material into virtual files on the computer, thus eliminating physical waste.

The final example is shown in computer-aided design (CAD) software which has

also been eliminating materials in the world of design and drafting. For instance, CAD and the ability to accurately design objects in virtual space, has effectively replaced

physical rulers, stencils, and drafting tables.

In all the examples above, tasks can more accurately and more efficiently be completed through the digital world of the computer. Resultantly, outdated analog technologies of the past quickly become obsolete. Marshall McLuhan (1988)

summarized this well stating that: “Any new technique…or tool, while enabling a new

range of activities by the user, pushes aside the older ways of doing things”. This

evolutionary shift toward dematerialization is occurring across many industries and has

been the fate of many sound reproduction technologies, such as the 8-track and cassette

tape players.

Dematerialization of Sound Technology

Perhaps more specifically, how does dematerialization affect sound reproduction

technology? This section will provide examples of how dematerialization has allowed

sound recordings to vanish into the computer, and secondly to allow products to use less

material to deliver the same functionality.

Firstly, as newer music technologies such as digital files appeared on the

Internet, they were no longer reliant upon the CD format. As a result, the physical

storage space associated with other devices, such as the CD, and record player, began to

disappear. This quickly changed how music collections were organized. Dibbel (2000)

explained this in his essay titled: Unpacking My Record Collection describing his

disembodied library of music in the form of .mp3 files stored on his computer hard

drive:

Moving songs from CD to hard drive, it turned out, felt less like relocating them than like minting them anew. It was an act of redemption -- a release of music hitherto trapped in amber into a new, more ample existence. Unpacked and loaded into a "jukebox" program like RealJukebox or MusicMatch, my records dissolved into the liquid-crystal order of a database (Dibbel, 2000).

As Dibbel described above, the digitization of music allows it to be stored inside computers, making the traditional, physically large physical music players obsolete.

This certainly does not mean that the endeavor to have a music collection will end, but

rather that the activity will change formats; from physical collections to virtual ones.

These virtual collections, by nature of being in the computer, can be organized in new ways through automated players such as: iTunes, or Real Players by dematerializing large physical libraries of CDs and records.

Additionally, Levy (1997) noted that as a result of dematerialization, the computers used to store and play music have miniaturized, using less material in a smaller enclosure to deliver the same functionality. However, these devices have become so small that they are almost too small to use; taking them to the ergonomic threshold. “The ergonomics threshold is defined as the point at which product minimum size is determined by the interface rather than the electronics” (Levy, 1997, p. 29).

Further he noted that as devices continue to get smaller and smaller, the physiology of the human hands does not, making the increasingly smaller interfaces difficult to use.

A great example of a device that has reached the ergonomic threshold was the iPod nano released in 2010 by Apple computers. This portable music player was so small (1.48″ tall, 1.61″ wide, 0.35″ thick) that the interface was too difficult to physically activate for many users. It was also very common for users to lose these devices as a result of their small size. Interestingly, Apple soon returned to their best selling size, roughly double the length of the nano, in 2012.

Another example that illustrates the changing sizes of sound reproduction technologies can be seen in the speakers and amplifiers that deliver music. In the past, loudspeakers and amplifiers were bulky, heavy devices. For example, a typical component such as an amplifier, record player, or tuner, measured around 17” wide x

15” deep x 4” tall. To create stereo systems these individual components were stacked

vertically in a stereo stands measuring up to 50” in height. These were paired with

adjacent speaker cabinets on either side measuring around 10” wide x 12” deep x 40”

tall. As a result, these large stereo systems occupied considerable amounts of space in

residential environments.

Nevertheless, the continued miniaturization of sound reproduction technologies

have enabled multiple components such as amplifiers, tuners, CD and digital music

players, and speakers to converge into one device. This became popular in players such

as ghetto blasters in the 1970-80s, leading to contemporary products like the Bose

Wave. These smaller devices occupy much less space than their counterparts, measuring

15” wide by 4” tall, containing the same general functionality. However, it is

interesting to note that the scale of professional amplifiers and loudspeakers, such as

those purchased in the listening rooms of audiophiles, still remain relatively unchanged.

A similar situation is happening at the level of headphone speakers. Beginning in

the early 1900s, headphones were available in large, over-the-ear styles. Over time, the

speakers inside these products have miniaturized to the point they can be worn as inside-

the-ear headphones, such as those found on Sony walkmans in the 1980s and the stylish

ear buds found on iPods and MP3 players. Today’s ear buds deliver very high sound quality especially those offered from authority audio companies like Klipsch, Bowers and Wilkens, and Bose. However, despite their fashionable appearance, and high quality sound, large over-the-ear products still remain popular.

The above examples raise an interesting point, as we rapidly approach a new world of highly miniaturized technologies, and dematerialization, products have the potential to converge functionality at very tiny scales. Thus today designers grapple with new and innovative ways to combine functionality in any size or shape imaginable, and still make them useable.

Rematerialization

A very important point however, is that seemingly smaller, dematerialized technologies are not completely immaterial. That is to say that new technologies also require physical objects to sustain them. For example, in the world of sound recording, many physical formats are rapidly dissolving into the digital ether, but reappearing in new physical forms such as hard drives, cloud computers, and server farms. These external drives are physically more efficient in terms of space and can accept virtually thousands of songs in a container no bigger than a cassette tape (which in 1984 usually contained twelve songs, in roughly the same size and weight). The point here is that with new technologies, including invisible ones, physical formats always seem to follow.

An example of this can be found in the infrastructure to support digital music. In this industry, new physical technologies have been designed to house the smaller, seemingly invisible sound recordings captured in digital files. As the quantity of these files increase, so do the storage requirements, and this is typically offset by the creation of massive server farms to house digital information. Server farms are a series of computer servers networked together to create vast amounts of virtual storage for large

online companies such as iTunes, YouTube, and Spotify. These corporations currently

own tens of thousands of servers in order to run their digital empires. In addition, these

companies also hire thousands of employees to build, administer, and manage these

colossal information storage systems.

It is important clarify here that digital music retailers are not completely invisible. In fact, server farms have enormous costs associated with them both financially and environmentally as they consume vast amounts of energy to run.

Therefore, we must be cautious here not to assume that the dematerialization of technologies will lead to products without any environmental impact. However as will be affirmed below, it seems that dematerialization does lead to more efficient products.

Weber and colleagues (2010) examined this in their study, The Energy and

Climate Change Implications of Different Music Delivery Methods. In this complex study, the authors argued consumers purchased sound reproduction formats in many different ways. That is, new music delivery methods were employed by some consumers

in online digital purchases later burning them to CD, while others purchased CDs online through etail merchants, while some bought all of their music online. In considering all of this, Weber and colleagues (2010) concluded that their research indicated “the superiority of downloadable online music, which even in the worst-case scenario produces, on average, 65% lower CO2 emissions than the best-case e-tail delivery method”. In other words, replacing the production of physical formats such as vinyl or

CDs, with the downloading of digital would lower CO2 emissions significantly.

In a similar study, Shehabi and colleagues (2014) studied the energy and greenhouse-gas implications for internet movie streaming in the United States. This study compared the production and consumption of physical DVD movies in relation to streaming of digital videos from services such as Netflix. The authors concluded that shifting all DVD viewing to video streaming would significantly reduce the total primary energy used in this industry. Further they suggested, for future development, designers and policy makers must focus on the efficiency of end-user devices and network transmission energy to curb energy use from future increases in video streaming.

In the examples above, it seems clear that the dematerialization of technologies such as music are advancing their efficiency and environmental footprint. Building from the physical sound reproduction technologies of the past, digitization and the dematerialization are increasing efficiency of materials, allowing physical objects to dissolve into the computer with much less impact on the environment. However in adopting this new form of technology, we must be cautious. As designers rematerialize and repackage these seemingly invisible technologies, we must ensure they continually improve efficiency and do not expand their ecological footprint while still providing the desired listening experience.

(Ball 2014). (Ball

eproduction r ound s

Dematerialization of

70 Figure 13:

5. INTERFACING MUSIC THROUGH SOUND TECHNOLOGIES:

“Music makes me forget my real situation. It transports me into a state which is not my own. Under the influence of music I really seem to feel what I do not understand, to have powers which I cannot have”-Tolstoy (1890).

Physiological Music Listening

Beyond efficiency, the most important aspect of any technology, whether it is

physical or dematerializing, is the human connection with it. That is, how does one

interface with a given sound technology? This can be viewed from two perspectives: the

physiological and the poetic. First in reviewing the physiological, it is important to

begin with some discussion on the phenomenon of sound and hearing.

Toole (2008) described sound as an invisible and magical phenomenon that

travels through media. According to him, when we hear sound it is created by sound

waves, or vibrations transmitted through media, such as air or water. This originates

from a vibrating mechanism such as a speaker or vocal cord, to our ear drums where it is

processed through nerve pathways to the brain and is perceived as sound (Schnupp,

2011). In addition, Bridger (2008) described sound as “pressure fluctuations in an elastic

medium. Sound is the auditory sensation produced by these oscillations” (Bridger, 2008,

p. 409).

Figure 14: Physiology of the human ear (Ball 2014).

Looking specifically at the human ear, there are three parts that make auditory

sensation possible: the outer ear, middle ear, and inner ear. Firstly, the outer ear

consists of the pinna, the two flappy dish-shaped extremities on the sides of our heads

that collect sound from the external world. Inside the pinna is the auditory canal, a tube

that directs sound waves inside the body toward the middle ear. At the end of this canal,

the outer ear terminates at the eardrum, or tympanic membrane, where it converts sound

waves into vibrations before entering the middle ear.

Inside the middle ear, the vibrations of the tympanic membrane are translated

into mechanical energy by the ocicles, the hammer, anvil, and stirrup, which are directly

connected to the eardrum. The vibrations of the occicles create movement sending the

vibrations into inner ear. Once inside the inner ear, the vibrations create movement in

the fluids of the cochlea causing changes to tiny structures called hair cells. These hair

cells send electrical signals or nerve impulses along the auditory nerve to the brain.

Finally, the brain interprets this information and thus creates our perception of “sound”.

Sterne (2003) explained the importance of this process writing that most people understand sound as natural phenomena that are external to themselves. However, sound

is much more complex than that. In fact “sound is a very particular perception of

vibrations” (Sterne, 2003). As a result, without the organ of hearing, there would be no

such thing as sound, merely vibrations in the external world that could never be heard.

Because of the ear, sound perception provides the ability to distinguish between

frequencies allowing for a rich auditory sensation.

Frequency relates to the speed of the vibrations sent from a sound source. Toole

(2008) described this as “the frequency of a harmonic oscillation is the ratio of the number of periods (full cycles) and the corresponding time”. For example, a frequency of 20 Hz is explained as twenty oscillations per second. This is called low frequency sound and can be heard (and sometimes felt in the body) as bass. On the other side of the scale (shown in figure below) are the brighter, higher frequency sounds such as shattering glass or the sound of a guitar string on a silk shirt sleeve. These waves range up to 20 000 Hz (20 MHz). However, the average human ear is only able to hear sound between 20Hz and up to around 17,000Hz (Bridger, 2008). Resultantly many high quality loudspeakers produce sounds between theses ranges; although the human ear

performs best around 1000-4000 Hz (the frequencies most commonly used in human

speech).

Figure 15: Sound frequency ranges of the human ear: Adapted from Bridger (2008).

Additionally, our human sense of sound is not limited to our ears. An example in

the audio world is the marked difference between headphone and loudspeaker sound.

This difference lies in the research of vibration and infrasound which is sometimes

referred to as the “sounds of silence”. Infrasound studies the lower frequency vibrations

(below 20hz) that cannot be heard, but felt through the body (Haak, 2007). In

particular, deep drum bass, or low frequency sound (20hz and below) has a certain

“feel” that can be sensed in the nerve endings of the skin. Much like the function of the

inner ear, sound waves sensed on the body are sent as electrical signals or nerve

impulses to the brain and interpreted as sound.

Audiophiles worship this deep vibration (20 Hz) through their ears and the rest

of their bodies when listening to music on high quality loudspeakers. Popular music genres including: rap music, trance, electronic, and even jazz musicians play music, and experiment on the lower frequency end of sound. The external “feeling” of these low frequencies, played through a loudspeaker, produces a full body experience that cannot

be matched with the best quality headphones.

Thus, the human perception of sound is reliant upon the entire human body and

not just limited to the ears. While sound reproduction technologies may evolve

significantly over the years, these natural mechanisms inside the human body remain

largely unchanged.

Poetic Music Listening

Following the physiological view of sound perception, another important aspect

of the human connection to sound reproduction technology is the emotional or

phenomenological connection to music and the perception of sound.

First, it is important to understand that the perception of sound reproduction is

very subjective and difficult to measure. Toole (2008) suggested that although our

scientific understandings of the natural world allow us to do many things, and in spite of

such scientific capabilities, we still cannot measure music. He explained, “science has

no dimensions to measure the evocative elements of a good tune”(Toole, 2008, p. 11).

In addition, sound reproduction technologies require a great deal of human assistance to

reproduce sound in a way that is believable to the human ear. Therefore, he noted, that

the reproduction of a song can never be the same as an original and, as a result, must

supplement the human ability to “fill in the blanks”, such as visualizing the musician

and instruments making the sounds. The ability to fill in the blanks is precisely where

the poetics of music listening exist.

In The Aesthetics of Music, Roger Scruton (1997) described sounds as secondary

objects which are heard as tones by continuous movement through one dimensional

space. These tones are interpreted in the human brain through imagination providing a

metaphorical perception of sound. Moreover, Scruton claimed that these metaphors

enter into our experience of music. He contended that music, unlike sound, is an

"intentional object of musical perception”. Finally, he noted, the hearing of music is

shaped by spatial metaphors, and the product of a musical imagination.

In similar way, Miller (2014), also described how the human imagination played

a role in the poetics of listening. To illustrate, Miller (2014)Miller (2014)Miller

(2014)Miller (2014) described music as a series of audible perceptions which succeed

another in time. He added, these perceptions are unified and coherent, structured and

orderly. In addition, they offer a mode of pleasure, and provide for a mode of musical

knowledge. Like Scruton, Miller described this mode of knowledge inside the human

mind as the auditory imagination.

From a slightly different point of view, Miller’s book The Music of Poetry

examined aesthetics and the imagination through the work of poet T.S. Elliot.

According to the author, part of the experience of reading poetry is the appeal of its

music to the auditory imagination. He explained: “to use phenomenological terms, if the unfolding meaning of a poem tends to occupy the foreground of our experience, then its

music tends to occupy the background” (Miller, 2014, p. 221). In other words, poetry

communicates with the reader on two simultaneous levels. This occurs through the

written meaning on the surface, and secondly through the imaginative response to the

underlying flow and rhythm of the writing. These competing levels of communication

are intrinsic to the rich aesthetic experience of reading poetry and are created in the

mind.

Conversely, Scruton (1997), and Miller (2014) suggested that listening to music

is the opposite of this experience. In other words, when music is heard, its rhythm and

melody are perceived through the musical imagination occupying the foreground of the experience. Alongside the rhythm and melody of the music, the lyrics and underlying

message occupy the background, adding depth and meaning to the experience. This

combined foreground and background experience delivers an aurally pleasing result that

compels people to listen to music.

More importantly, the poetry in music has less to do with hearing music through

the ears, and more to do with the thinking of music that occurs in the mind. Sterne

(2003) describes this mode of thought as audile techniques, which are learned

behaviors. Like Ihde (1993), he described the body as humanity’s first communication

technology, and that all technologies of listening have emerged (or extended) out of

techniques for listening to sound. Further, he distinguishes audile techniques as ways of

listening, and these are achieved through active effort, in contrast to hearing, which is

much more passive. Sterne explains that hearing is a physiological activity, whereas

listening becomes a poetic, cultural process; a way of gaining knowledge, and deeper

meaning in our lives.

Those at the more serious end of listening to recorded music are called

audiophiles. Audiophiles are people with an enthusiastic passion for high-fidelity sound reproduction, usually focussed on sound within the home environment. These

enthusiasts spend vast amounts of time and energy reproducing recorded music to the

utmost precision in their own homes. Rawson (2006) uses the term audiophilia as a way

to describe the behavior of those who attempt to accurately reproduce sound for the

highest form of recording and listening to music. Typically audiophiles perform this

activity in their own homes, but may also be involved in other areas such as music

production, or live performances.

Figure 16: Typical arrangement of high fidelity stereo equipment in an audiophile’s listening room (Ball 2015).

Further, where the typical consumer is content with hearing music as

background sound, audiophiles listen to music through technology with undivided

attention. This skillful use of technology brings the activity of listening to the

foreground. As described in Heidegger’s (1962) example of the hammer, when skillfully

deployed through repeated use, the object disappears from view. In this example

Heidegger’s hammer does not physically disappear, but becomes an imperceptible

extension of the hand. Rawson (2006) noted that audiophiles reach a similar state of communication between musician and listener when their audio equipment disappears.

As the author claimed, when audiophiles listen with mindful attention, objects recede, and the emotional content can emerge through technology.

Rawson (2006) also termed the technical behavior of audiophiles as invested listening. This term was used “for its economic connotations and for the value it places on personal time and effort” (Rawson, 2006). Audiophiles typically invest thousands of dollars into artificial sound recordings, and their players, to create an environment best

suited to achieving the perfect sound. This requires vast amounts of time, energy, and research to design flawless sound spaces with impeccable sound quality.

Regardless of one’s enthusiasm for listening, people certainly have an emotional connection to music. It's important to note that most human built environments (not just the homes of audiophiles) are filled with, or have the capacity to offer, music and sound

reproduction. For example, we hear music in public spaces such as elevators,

businesses, and large social gatherings. Music is played in homes, automobiles, kid’s

toys, and personal audio devices such as iPods and computers. These pervasive audio

environments can influence one’s state of mind and behavior.

Authors such as Gue'guen (2008) have illustrated this in their research, showing how, for example, background music can control consumer behavior. In one instance he

explained that “male beer drinkers unobtrusively observed in two bars, drank

significantly more beer when environmental music was played than when the music was

off”. In other examples, Gue'guen (2008) claimed that the style of music played in a

store, or in a restaurant could also influence the behavior of consumers to stimulate

them to buy a variety of products. This study shows the powerful connection between

music and the human mind, and by influencing a given audience’s mood through music,

can manipulate people to behave in predictable ways.

Interestingly, (Bull, 2007) also suggested that listening to recorded music

through personal devices such as iPod can artificially shape one’s mood. Bull described

how music played through personal music players such as iPods, and Sony Walkmans

allow users to feel as though they are part of a bigger story or motion picture creating

filmic experiences in everyday life. By doing so, users were able to enhance their moods

in positive ways through the use of music in their headphones. In addition, (Bull, 2007)

found that listeners could also magnify a negative mood with the use of aggressive

music, while others felt that they “could part the seas like Moses” while listening to

music. It is apparent here that listening to music creates strong visceral experiences that

can allow one to control and influence their own emotions.

In another way, sound recordings can be used to control and influence emotions

by arousing meaningful memories of the past. For example, when a music track is

played it can evoke past memories stored in the mind. These may include sensory

experiences from the moments a song was heard such as smells, sights, tastes, hearing,

and touch. People often associate music with the stored memory of cultural rituals such

as graduation, relationships, or family events. In this way, listening to music recordings

allows people some ability to revisit memories of these past events, making sound

reproduction a very emotional, and potentially inspiring technology.

Effectively, the emotional connection with music technology occurs in two

stages. First, the physiological mechanics of the human body deliver sounds through the

human ear to the brain where the cognition of listening begins. Sound reproduction

technologies enhance this cognitive experience, to offer the wonderful experience that

we all know as listening to music.

Extension of Self Through Sound Reproduction Technology

The dematerialization of music has enabled new and profound dimensions in sharing, playing and listening to music. According to Belk (2013) file sharing has become a new way of “extending the self” into the virtual spaces. For example, the internet allows music listeners to shed the constraints of their physical bodies in a

process called disembodiment of the self (Belk, 2013). Thus, a digital re-embodiment occurs online in the form of customized usernames, videos, music files, photos or website entries.

This is most evident on websites such as facebook, twitter, spotify, and

soundcloud which allow users to share music playlists and other information on the

Internet. In these virtual spaces people communicate with others (including the

musicians themselves) to share and promote live shows, events and new music albums.

Through the dematerialization of music, and the ability to share and communicate music

preferences, allows one to personalize their virtual appearance. In this way, the sharing

potential of music allows one to extend the self in the digital world.

Nevertheless, the sharing of music is not a new concept. Past technologies, such

as the cassette, record, or CD, also allowed people to share with others by lending a

physical recording to a friend, or playing a sound recording at a social gathering, party or dance. Thus, these older physical formats restricted the distribution of recordings, forcing music enthusiasts to buy their own versions of the recordings for long time use.

Sharing was therefore constrained and limited by the physical size and weight of the

recording format.

However, in one particular format the physical constraints did not limit sharing,

but enhanced it. Building from Belk’s findings, the cassette of the 1980s also offered the

ability to extend the self by allowing users to share their favourite music tracks on

highly personalized mix tapes. Cassettes allowed people to dub and record their own

custom variety albums from blanks allowing users to label them in their own

handwriting style to distribute among others. Music tracks could be recorded from the

radio, vinyl or from other cassettes in any order imaginable. Like today’s file sharing on

the internet, cassettes enabled users to extend themselves into their friend’s cassette

players, to share their musical tastes directly. The sharing and social component of the

cassette certainly contributed to its success and appeal in the 1980s.

Figure 17: Cassette mix tape with personalized hand written graphics (Ball/ Sadowski 2014).

In comparison, the sharing of music becomes more complex when we consider

sharing digital music files on the Internet. As a result of digitalization and peer-to-peer

(P2P) file sharing, digital files such as songs, and complete albums, can be shared

around the globe in mere seconds. Peer-to-peer file sharing is the distribution and

sharing of digital documents and computer files using the technology of P2P networking

on the Internet. P2P file sharing allows users to access media files such as music,

movies, books, and games using a specialized software program. This program searches

for other connected computers on a P2P network and locates the desired content. The

nodes (peers) of such networks are end-user computer systems that are interconnected

via the internet (Carmack, 2002). Peer-to-peer file sharing technology has evolved

through several stages from early networks like Napster, which popularized the

technology, to the later applications like the Bit Torrent, and Kaza protocols.

Several factors contributed to the widespread adoption and facilitation of peer-

to-peer file sharing. These included increasing internet bandwidth, the widespread

digitization of physical media, and the increasing capabilities of residential personal

computers. As a result of these factors, users were able to transfer either one or more

files from one computer to another across the internet through various file

transfer systems and other file-sharing networks (Carmack, 2002). Over time the sharing of digital files posed a serious concern to artists and big recording companies as this negatively affected album sales and was seen as infringement of artist copyrights. As a

result, many file sharing networks such as Napster were forced to shut down.

However, as these illegal websites were removed, new ones continued to appear

on the internet. In response to this Murray (2004) explained how a counter technology

called “torrent poisoning” was introduced by artists and record labels to interfere with

the digital sharing. For example, Madonna's American Life album was released with

several tracks of similar length and file size to the real album; these tracks were

intentionally leaked by the singer's record label. Inside these leaked tracks, featured a

clip of Madonna using profane language, discouraging her fans from downloading her

music, followed by minutes of silence.

In a similar fashion, the band The Barenaked Ladies also released a number of

tracks online in 2000, appearing to be legitimate copies of new tracks from the band's

latest album. Each file contained a short sample of the song, followed by a clip of a

band member saying, “although you thought you were downloading our new single,

what you were actually downloading is an advertisement for our new album” (Murray,

2004, p. 119). In these examples, artists battled against digital downloading as the

distribution became free of their control, and drastically interfered with physical album sales.

As a result, newer services such as iTunes and Spotify found ways to improve the control of downloading music for profit. In these online businesses music was not free, and the consumer was charged a fee to listen to, or download the digital music. iTunes transformed this process of downloading digital music charging their users on a fee-per-song basis. The profits of these fees were divided between the record label/artist and the service provider to ensure that all stakeholders were compensated for their role.

These songs can be purchased separately, or as complete albums and stored on the hard drive of the owner’s computer. In addition iTunes has enhanced the quality of the music files making them more stable than the ad hoc services of the past.

Spotify profits from digital music in different way. This company charges users a monthly fee to stream music from their server to a music player such as a smartphone, tablet or computer. In this model the consumer does not own the music, and songs disappear following their play. The music that is heard through these services performs much like radio, in that music can be received only through connection to the service

provider. The advantage of this model is that consumers do not own the albums they listen to, but benefit from a massive shared library of music with unlimited access.

Both the services of iTunes and Spotify provide music and organize digital audio inside the personal computer allowing one to personalize playlists. This presents another way of extending the self into digital space through computer interface. In this example, one can alter the playback sound through virtual frequency adjustments, and the appearance of the player on a computer screen. These settings can be saved and shared as digital files on a computer.

As a result of digitization, interface designers have been able to combine the music storage format and the player on one virtual device inside a single computer.

Unlike the record player- or cassette player, users no longer need to physically load the sound objects into the players. In essence the player and digital recording have converged into one device, making the device the user interface. This convergence has led to many ways of personalizing the music playing experience.

There are many other examples of digital interface replacing the analog functionality. For example, in many sound players and receivers, physical levers and control switches are being replaced by virtual ones. Before digitization, it was common to have large band equalizers allowing one to adjust sound with a series of mechanically activated sliding controls. Volume was controlled by a large round dial on the face of an amplifier. All of these are now a virtual interface found inside computer processors.

These interfaces can be highly personalized allowing one to save settings and virtually personalize their own style.

As is evident in the sharing of music and interface of the computer, humans can now extend themselves in more profound ways than what previous formats allowed.

However, at their core, our technologies remain extensions of ourselves. These

extensions become more complex and sophisticated as sound reproduction technology

continues to evolve.

Through sophisticated technologies, more music choices are available than ever

before. However, one must be cautious that the distribution of digital music is still the

erosion of cultural content. This means that by allowing the computer algorithms such

as those offered by iTunes, to choose our music and our playlists, homogenizes our taste. This can remove some of the creative elements of finding and listening to music.

People must remain aware that the distribution of music is ultimately controlled by large corporations such as those mentioned above.

In review of MacLuhan’s (1964) statement, “the medium is the message” an important point becomes clear; he insisted technologies be the area of study, not the content inside them. From this view, sound reproduction technology whether analog or digital, is about controlling the distribution and playing of music. In this way, digital music, reminiscent of its predecessors like the LP record or CD, is no longer a free bird but once again captured in the cages of human control.

Technostalgia: Something Lost

In sharp contrast, with the ability to download and share music more efficiently than ever, there is also a remarkable rise in the sales of vintage records players and vinyl

LP records. “According to US-based stats just published by Nielsen Soundscan, sales of

LPs surged 30.4 percent to 6.0 million in 2013, the largest number since the early 90s”

(Resnikoff, 2014). The recent rise in popularity of single disc vinyl records suggests that

there is something lost in the digitalization and dematerialization of sound reproduction.

Figure 18: Plastic adapter for 45 records (Ball/Sadowski 2014).

In reference to the earlier example of walking to rent a movie, there is a comforting physical ritual that accompanies the playing of a record that many

audiophiles are not willing to let go of. It seems that although digital technology has

amplified the speed and efficiency of storing and playing music, it has simultaneously

amputated the beautiful physical ritual of placing a record on a mechanical turn-table.

Although records wear over time, and often pop and crackle when played, audiophiles

relish in listening to this imperfect and so-called warm analog sound.

Accordingly, the appeal of records appears to have three physical components:

the sleeve, the disc, and the user interface. Firstly, the sleeve or packaging includes a

label or graphical component that has a high visual appeal and helps in the storing of records. The vertical storing of records allows them to be read from the spine (which is part of finding the album in stores). Some of the appeal of collecting records is the thrill of the hunt and many audiophiles are drawn to the experience of shopping and finding rare copies in dingy used record stores (Piper, 2014).

Secondly, the disc itself offers a variety of material options also adding visual appeal. For example, some records appear in candy-like translucent colors, and others in solid plastic colors such as white, blue, or the traditional black. With recent manufacturing technologies these records can appear in psychedelic splatter mixtures of color that appear almost like 1960’s tie-die shirts. The use of materials such as polyvinyl chloride (PVC) has also allowed for more sophisticated picture discs which allow images to be sandwiched between two clear sides. As shown, each record is slightly unique in appearance increasing their value as collectables. The size and weight of the records is also another factor. Records come in 12, 10, or 7 inch diameter and can be purchased in a variety of weights such as 120, 150 or 180 grams.

Figure 19: Iron Maiden picture disc record, and colored vinyl (Ball/Sadowski, 2014).

Thirdly, and perhaps most importantly, records and other material formats such

as the CD, provide a physical ritual that accompanies their playing and this is lost in

digital media. The physical process of record playing requires a physical skill set or technique (Ihde, 1993) to engage. It is the challenge in dropping a mechanical needle into the desired record groove that makes it such a satisfying activity. This technique requires knowledge of the process such as learning to remove the record from its sleeve, placing the disc on a turntable, turning the power on, and precisely placing the stylus on a rotating record. The last moment of seeing and hearing sound emerge from the needle’s contact with a record groove is a magical event that appeals to users. This technique of playing music offers a rich and physical experience to its users, making it a highly popular format.

Figure 20: 1980s era vinyl record with holographic imagery (Ball/Sadowski 2014).

Regardless, digital music still has many advantages over vinyl. One advantage is that there is no mechanical wear of the files. For example, in records, and more often with cassettes and 8-tracks, they lose quality and wear continuously as they’re played.

Digital files do not. Once digital files have been compressed they no longer lose sound

quality and can be played infinitely without any loss of quality, mechanical feedback or

static. Contrary to popular opinion, high quality digital files are superior in performance

over vinyl as a result of evolving recording technology. As a result, the sale of digital

files is quickly growing in the market through companies such as iTunes, Beats, and

Spotify. “If we look back over the past quarter century, it would appear that the

commodity form of music has undergone a massive transformation. Today, the world’s

largest music store sells digital files” (Sterne, 2012).

However, the popular surge of vinyl in today’s market suggests that there is

something lost in digital music. Taylor (2001) provided insight explaining that authentic formats, such as vinyl, shape small subcultures of collectors who appreciate the nostalgic experience of playing them. This form of music collecting is called technostalgia (Taylor, 2001) and seems to correlate to the generation of people in question. “These resurrections mark a disillusionment with technology, for they often manifest as a kind of nostalgia for past visions of the future, a future that never arrived”

(Taylor, 96). It seems that traditional analog fans wax nostalgia on the identity and tactile experience of physical objects. Interestingly, the same argument applies to the current generation, who in future will long for the lost interface of their iPods and virtual music players on their personal computers.

Figure 21: Analog interface of a 1972 Harman Kardon ST-7 record turntable (Ball 2014).

An example of Taylor’s disillusionment concept regarding vinyl collectors, has to do with invisible and weightless sound recordings that are stuck inside a computer.

The industrial design profession has not yet found a suitable interface to deal with this, leaving something lost in the playing of digital music files. In comparison, cassettes, records, and CDs all had a weight and physicality that could be placed into the hands and evaluated. These physical formats were played in specific players that also had a

physical ritual which accompanied their play. For digital file technology, there is a

much different physical sensation, one that seems to be contained within the plastic shell

of a computer mouse, keyboard and display screen.

Mark Weiser wrote: “the most profound technologies are those that disappear”

(Weiser, 1991). In this statement, Weiser described a future of ubiquitous computing,

when awkward computers recede to the background making people more aware of the

author of the content hidden within the storage space of computers. This phenomena has

already begun in the music industry. Today, music can be heard in cars, restaurants,

bars, elevators, phones, motorcycles, power tools, underwater swimming pools, and

even washrooms! As a result, the poetic techniques of listening have begun to recede to

the background of our society; the hearing of music has become ubiquitous.

Slow Technologies

Similarily, in The McDonaldization of Society Ritzer (1983) describes how

rationalization of thought occurring in America has applied efficiency to everything

including the act of leisure. Ritzer describes how our emphasis on efficiency,

predictability, the substitution of machines for human technology, and control over

uncertainty, have affected our perception of leisure time (Ritzer, 1983). For example, he describes how nightclubs, campgrounds, sporting events, and now music playing have grown increasingly more efficient. Interestingly, he notes that efficiency often

“comes to be not a means but an end in itself”. In other words, in our fast-paced devotion to efficiency and having more for less cost, we pay less attention to quality. As a result, many new products and technologies suffer from the paradox of quantity over quality.

To counter this sense of McDonaldization, the slow food movement (McCarthy,

2014) has outlined a need to decelerate food consumption. Architect John Brown also applies this philosophy to home design. In describing the current form of suburban home development he noted:

We call them fast houses because they`re like fast food. A fast house is a standardized, mass produced commodity that has been designed to attract our attention, ignite our desire, and give the illusion of value as much if not more than it`s been designed as a place to live. This lack of attention to the fundamentals of good design makes a fast house difficult to live in and hard on the environment (Brown, 2010).

The Slow Movement points out that, although our new technologies make food, leisure, and communication more efficient, there is an inherent loss associated with the speed of this efficient delivery. Cerbone (2008) discussed this concept in his review of an essay entitled The Thing by Martin Heidegger (1971).

“Though we are able to move from one place to another more quickly

than ever before, and connect with other parts of the world in ways and

speeds never imagined in times before. Heidegger argues that the net

effect of all of this moving and connecting is a kind of detachment, an

inattention to important aspects of features of what surrounds us”.

This detachment explains the dissatisfaction with new technologies and the longing for

older technologies found in technostalgia (Taylor, 2001).

In comparing slow food to analog sound, a similar concern appears. That is, fast

food, and fast homes have globalized taste and culture, and the efficiency and portability

of digital sound. Such efficiency associated with digital sound formats, seems to place

music listening into background. In contrast, the vinyl record celebrates the tangible

pleasures of listening to music and its inherent inefficiency forces one into a physical

ritual to carefully and, as it were, slowly listen to a recording. Music seems to thus re-

enter the foreground, as the listener feels a closer connection with the performance;

becoming mindful and attentive of the aural detail within the music.

Synthesis

In summary, dematerialization has come to mean many things, but it certainly does not mean that our technological objects will completely disappear. Hogg and

Jackson (2008) contended that we must question the recent technological shift from physical albums to digital .mp3 files. They discuss whether the use of digital media, including the digitizing of music, entails a reduction in material use and suggest that there is most certainly a trend toward dematerialization. They conclude by saying:

“improvements in material savings, achievable through (e.g.) the miniaturization of hardware, look to be modest at best and are merely incremental changes rather than the

dramatic leap in dematerialization that would be needed if we aspire to a “weightless

economy”. In conclusion, “it seems likely that the material resource impacts of digital

music delivery will continue for some time” (Hogg, 2009).

Similarily, Moles (1995) agreed by saying that the physical part of technologies must never be dismissed. He stated:

Every symphony has its compact disc; every audio experience has its

loudspeaker; every visual image its camera and video disc. Behind every

outward image or symbol gives rise to a new approach to the relationship

between human being and object, the analysis will be one of the individual’s

connection with the material support underlying the new culture of immateriality

(Moles, 1995).

The point is that although miniaturization and dematerialization are rapidly shrinking

physical devices, they will not completely vanish. In addition there are some objects

that will always be required such as speakers, and amplifiers.

Figure 22: Apple iPod 2013.

Further, in reviewing the historic evolution of sound reproduction formats, a

common element appears: that is, regardless of the time, or format, people continue to

play and listen to music recordings. This can be observed throughout the history of

sound reproduction in records, cassettes, and in today’s digital music formats. The

emotional connection and historical popularity of music leads to a promising future.

What is clear is that the current state of sound reproduction points toward a

future where anything is possible. In a world where virtually any product configuration

is possible, the future of sound reproduction technology presents new and exciting

design opportunities where products reveal potential for converging functionality in

unlimited scales (both large and small). It is apparent that future dematerialized sound technologies will increasingly become manifest as interface with a computer, and will therefore always remain in some way a physical, tangible object. As we develop new ways to interface with computers we must make deliberate decisions on what specific technologies we utilize, and carefully ensure that they do not use us.

6. PRECEDENTS

“The past is over; the present is fleeting; we live in the future”. –Kurzweil (1999)

Process Overview

In reviewing dematerialization and digitization it is evident that sound reproduction media have increased the efficiency, and predictability of music playing.

This efficiency comes in the enhanced ability to store and locate music tracks at light speed. Tracks can be shuffled and played continuously for hours, and played through computers, home stereos, portable music players, and car audio players. While played, the sound of those tracks can be infinitely adjusted through a variety of dials and equalizers. Today, music listening can be combined with other tasks such as driving, working, exercising and many others. As we rapidly approach a world of highly miniaturized technologies, and dematerialization, products have potential for converging functionality in unlimited scales.

However, this positions music as one of many sophisticated options inside personal communication devices, computers, and screened devices. These multi-layered technologies have allowed people to extend themselves (Belk, 2013), into the digital world of the internet, and have simultaneously amputated the rich, physical interfaces of past technologies such as the record and turntable.

In proposing alternatives to these losses it is helpful to review emerging sound reproduction technologies, and the manner in which emerging products can structure the ways in which people listen to music. To understand these new ways of interfacing with music, an examination of notable emerging sound technologies and computer interfaces

is useful. Subsequently, a design problem will be outlined, and the proposal of a new

Industrial Design concept will offer a new way of experiencing digital music play.

Emerging Sound Technologies

As new technologies rapidly converge and miniaturize, many new trends are developing within the sound reproduction industry. This section is a broad overview of selected emerging technologies and products within sound reproduction that reorganize and present new ways of listening and interfacing with music. This collection will be

used in conjunction with insights from the preceding chapters, to inform an industrial

design response.

The first example is a digital technology called Shazam that allows one to use

their iPhone or tablet to analyze and recognize the name and artist of a playing tune.

As the website explained: “Shazam is a mobile application that recognizes music and

media playing around you”(Shazam, 2014). In a truly magical way, this application is

used by placing the microphone of your device near a playing song (external speaker).

By using sound recognition software the automated application recognizes and displays

the title of the song and artist name of the playing tune.

Another interesting technology, developed by Disney research, allows people to

transmit sound through physical touch. In this example a person (or transmitter) can

touch another person’s ear transmitting a sound that can only be heard by a receiver.

Disney (2014) calls this technology: Ishin-Den-Shin. As they described:

Ishin-Den-Shin system includes a handheld microphone connected to a computer. When someone speaks into the microphone, the computer turns

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the sound into a looped recording. The recording is then converted into a high-voltage, low-current inaudible signal that flows into a thin wire connected to the interior of the microphone. This looped, inaudible signal creates a modulated electrostatic field and produces a very small vibration as the finger touches an object, forming a speaker (Disney, 2014).

These touch modulated electrostatic fields create a very small vibration on the ear lobe; the finger and the other person’s ear, together, forming a speaker which makes the signal audible only for the person touched. Some design possibilities could include invisible music playing devices, security, and most certainly a high entertainment value.

One can imagine from a child’s perspective, the magic of having a Disney princess tell you a secret message through her finger!

The third emerging technology sounds like a science fiction concept, allowing the capacity to focus beams of sound to a single source (or person in a crowd).

Directional sound, as they call it, uses an ultrasound emitter to direct a laser-like stream of audible sound, so focused that only people inside a narrow path can hear it. The inventors “envision a family of four sitting in a car enjoying four different musical selections or radio broadcasts at once–with no headphones. They also see street-level billboards or displays in retail locations that speak only to one passing consumer at a time”(Schwartz, 2004). This technology could have great possibilities in security and secret communications and could be used to enhance an already popular sector of personal music players.

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The last example of an emerging sound reproduction technology is Kunstkopf

(dummy head), or binaural recording. In this technology, an artificial model of the

human head is used to physically position recording microphones into the location of

the human eardrums while recording sound. These microphone assemblies are built in

the same size, shape, and density of the human ears and head. Resultantly, the playback

sound uses left-right information, and frequency-dependent distortions, allowing the

user to perceive realistic multi-directional audio that sounds remarkably lifelike.

Emerging Products: Amplified Listening

Neuro Turntable is new product that responds to a user’s listening attention. That

is, this product plays music only when the listener is concentrating on the music by

analyzing the listener's brain waves through a physical head mounted device.

Figure 23: Nuero turntable monitors user’s music listening attention.

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According to the website, “the music starts if the user concentrates,

and automatically stops if the user starts talking to somebody or

thinks about something else. There is a sort of unconscious dialog

between the user and Neuro Turntable, where the user finds out that

he might not be really concentrated on music, even when he thought

he was. This will lead the way to a new relationship to music, where

people will focus more on music to really enjoy it (Nuerowear,

2014).

The next example attempts to replace the missing sensation on the nerve endings

of the body that are lost in headphone sound. Today, some of the best quality sound

reproduction is created through headphones, or isolated audile environments. This is created by restricting external noise and directing the sound of a music recording

directly to the ear. However, this amputates an important part of listening, and that is the

physical feel of low frequency sound (bass) on the body.

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Figure 24: Woojer is a wearable subwoofer that simulates low frequency sound in music.

This problem has been addressed by Woojer. In the product shown above, a user

is now able to simulate the feeling of low frequency sound of their electronic music, or

guitar, artificially bridging the gap between headphone sound and loudspeaker sound.

Woojer is a new product that attempts to meet the visceral sensation audiophiles crave,

feeling low frequency sound throughout the body. Regardless, this novelty item delivers

sound simulation to a particular location on the body, and falls short of the full body nuances that can felt through a loudspeaker.

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Figure 25: Life After Death sound coffin offers high fidelity for the deceased.

In a much darker realm, a new company called Life After Death Entertainment, has developed a coffin that allows deceased users to enjoy high fidelity music from their coffin. At a cost of $30, 000, this product allows living family members and friends to send music tracks and voice recordings to the deceased in their coffins. Listening to music in this configuration certainly allows for more focussed attention to listening by limiting external noise particularly when buried six feet below ground. In a truly creepy way, sound technology has not only entered our physical lives, but may now be approaching the spirit world after death.

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Figure 26: Audionaut personal music player concept (IDSA.org, 2013)

In a similar method, Mike Kim’s concept for Audionaut focuses listening attention by amputating the external world connecting sound and visual media into a highly personalized music experience. With six speakers (4 woofers and 2 tweeters) and a video monitor, this design overloads the senses of sight and hearing by depriving the user of the surrounding world. This design pushes the boundaries of personalized media as it completely amputates the user from social interaction with others and focuses exclusively on the listening experience.

The above audio precedents outline some of the innovative directions of audio and sound technologies happening in the world today. With emerging technologies that allow humans to direct the movement of sound, and others that have appeared in new

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packages make sound reproduction more ubiquitous. These interventions are opening the doors of opportunity for new and innovative ways of listening to music.

Emerging Interfaces: Amplified Play

The physical losses associated with digital technology have inspired many new design directions in computational interface. These directions provide insight into new ways that music could be played in the future. An example that highlights this is

Mcelroy (2014) in her effort to use digital technology to live a more analog life. The

Edible Email Notifier or (EEN) “is a reward system for reading your emails. It indicates new emails by dropping M&Ms into a glass. Then, once the emails have been read, an

LED lights up to indicate that you may eat the M&M” (Mcelroy, 2014). Mcelroy’s industrial design concept questions the losses embedded in digital technology offering a more tangible way of communicating digital information with the user.

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Figure 27: Edible Email Notifier: analog reward system for reading emails.

Figure 28: Palettegear analog interface for digital technologies.

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Another interesting project is one that that combines technolostalgic analog

interface with the convoluted digital present. Palettegear recognized the need for an

interface with computers that is tactile, yet highly customizable, offering a high degree

of control. They offer several size kits, in anodized aluminum and wood, all of which

make reference to analog dials, buttons and switches of the past technologies. These

individual components can reorganized as needed by the user, and most importantly, allow a thoughtful, physical interface to control digital information.

In the world of making music, another more progressive innovation is the Mi.Mu

music gloves invented by Artist: Imogen Heap. This product allows musicians and

artists more freedom in creating music using the dexterity and mobility of the human

body. In describing her idea, Heap (2012) demonstrates her control and rhythm of high notes and bass using her left and right hands. In addition, she is able to record and manipulate her voice using arm and hand gestures as she performs on stage. The artist

contended that physical instruments get in the way of making music. Using the Mi. Mu

gloves, music can be created through kinetic movement and dance that truly reconnects

her body to the music making process.

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Figure 29: Mi.Mu music glove creates music with gestural movement.

Music Gloves take inspiration from the concept of computer interface in the movie Minority Report. In this movie, the future of computing is depicted showing users gesturing with arms and hands to interact with their computers on transparent

glass like screens. In a recent TED talks lecture John Underkoffler (2010), the interface

designer of this science fiction concept, describes the process of developing this user

interface for the movie and demonstrates a real life version of it. Using gloves to control the screen interface of a computer, Underkoffler uses his arms and hand gestures to control a giant computer screen. Since the release of Minority Report, this concept has inspired a change in popular thinking about alternative ways we could interface with computing.

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Figure 30: Leap Motion allows users to interact with computer using hand gestures.

In a similar, but much smaller scale (2 inches long x 1 inch wide), the Leap

motion controller allows one to interface with computers in a residential setting.

According to the manufacturer:

“The Leap Motion Controller tracks both hands and all ten fingers with

pinpoint precision and incredible speed. That wide-open space between you

and your computer is now yours to play, create and explore. Reach into

another world without actually touching anything”(Leapmotion, 2014).

Although the body does not physically attach to the technology, Leap interprets to the

gestural movement of human hands creating a simple and dynamic interface with the

computer.

In the gaming industry, gestural interface is not entirely new. For example, the

Wii gaming console has been using gestural recognition in its video games since 2001.

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The Wii controller (or Wiimote) connects to a variety of games such as Just Dance and

Wii Fit which allow users to interact with the computer through gaming activity. By

holding the Wiimote in the hand the remote monitors movements and gestures through

wireless communication. A pioneer in the field of gestural gaming, Wii remote is a great

example of a product that combines intuitive human interaction with the digital gaming interface inside a computer.

A similar approach is that of industrial music and visual artist Tristan Shone

(Author and Punisher) who designs and makes his own digital music instruments. One such device is his linear actuator, a sliding drum trigger that creates high and low frequency drum sounds based on forward and backward movements of his right arm.

These movements are measured into velocity to create sound that is translated in his

computer. This automated instrument is another example of a physical interface that

allows a user to communicate with a computer and create music using a gratifying

technique.

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Figure 31: Author and Punisher’s Linear Actuator interfaces with computer to make music (Photo courtesy: Tristan Shone).

Another much larger intervention comes from Hungry Castle of Barcelona who designed a giant cat head that projects art and lasers onto a giant video screen. Laser Cat is a massive public art installation with lasers for eyes that uses high powered projectors to beam people’s personal art onto public buildings. The viewer controls the content by pressing a giant button to change the art, lasers and music. In addition the cat is sent digital Artwork from its users and so far, Laser Cat has received over 15,000 personal art submissions. Laser Cat offers a new authentic technique of utilizing dematerialized music by converging light, video, and music together. In addition, this piece explores the scale of sound in a big way by being over 5 meters in height!

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Figure 32: Technological Dreams, robot concepts by: Dunne and Raby.

The last example takes the exploration of interacting with the digital world to another dimension. Designers Dunne and Raby explore the use of robots to ask the question: What new interdependencies and relationships might emerge in relation to different levels of robot intelligence and capability? These robotic objects spark a thought-provoking discussion about how we'd like our robots to relate to us. They ask the question: do we want our robots to be subservient, intimate, dependent, or equal? In an art piece called Technological Dreams, three robots were created. The most interesting of the three, was one that responds to people by seeking human affection.

Like a baby, it makes noises when a person enters the room and scans the iris of the user to recognize it. The robot appears to be happy once it has been picked up and recognizes

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its user. Interestingly the simulated emotional intelligence of these robots makes them rather likable and engaging technologies.

This section illustrates many of the new and innovative ways to play music and interact with the computer. Some combine past interfaces found in analog technologies, while others offer completely new paradigms in how the human body connects to technology including robots designed from an emotional point of view. Regardless, the above illustrated design interventions lead to many new directions in the future of sound reproduction, questioning the form of the interfaces with dematerializing digital technology.

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7. DESIGN RESPONSE

Design Problem

“Design is the conscious and intuitive effort to impose meaningful order”

-Papanek (1997).

Digital sound reproduction technology is changing rapidly, becoming more and

more invisible placing it into the background of the human soundscape. For audiophiles

in an invested listening environment, the most common way to interface with their

digital music is limited to computer screens using a mouse and keyboard, or through a

smartphone or tablet. This interface is similar to those used to write documents, navigate

the internet, and complete work tasks such as sending emails, or typing.

In describing this current interface of computing, John Underkoffler, gestural

interface designer of the movie The Matrix, aptly noted: “that’s the old way, that’s the old mantra: one machine, one human, one mouse, one screen. Well, that doesn’t really cut it anymore” (2010). Underkoffler noted that current computer interface is banal and

has little authenticity. Given the digitization of sound reproduction, the same computer

interface has replaced past modes of playing music such as the record and turntable.

These past interfaces offered rich human experiences with tactile and visual feedback.

The proposed new device, in this section, will reclaim authentic user experience that is

currently lost in digitization.

At this juncture a final question emerges: what is the experience of sound

reproduction that could be revealed in the future?

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Design Strategy

To answer this question, the following section will outline a design brief for an

Industrial Design concept addressing the overall design problem. Following the brief,

the design response will begin with a formal review of the complex music play activities

of the audiophile in the residential environment, and propose a new improved system

that organizes and structures this situation. Following this proposal, a series of device

alternatives will be compared in a morphological chart, considering a variety of functions to meet criteria such as: physical form, feedback, interface, and emotional recognition. Lastly, a selected concept of the physical form will be illustrated in a digital prototype to communicate the proposed form, offering a unique playing experience for the audiophile. An assortment of the development sketches and conceptual framework diagrams leading to this final design will also be illustrated.

Design Brief

Purpose:

The purpose of this design exercise is to generate a variety of Industrial Design concepts to connect the physical human body to the playing of dematerialized music. Given the phenomenological notions of technology, and the miniaturization and digitization of sound reproduction technology, how might the audiophile organize and control their music in the home environment? This activity will propose a highly controlled digital music player to bring listening to the foreground within a meaningful, personalized experience.

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Functionality: -Digital music navigation -Digital music playback -Feedback to user -Volume/ equalization adjustment -Internet connection -Integration with existing amplifiers and receivers -Wireless power

Industrial Design Guidelines: -Visual elements of the design unobtrusive in a residential space -Must have a contemporary appearance to fit within a variety of home interior styles -Intuitive interface with clear and obvious feedback -Ergonomics: scale to be useable and fit the human body -Appeal to target market

User Interface (controls): -Touch screen -Biometric sensors (heat, heartbeat, and body movements) -Navigation control centre

User Interface (feedback): -Video screen -Lights/ Color -Sound -Physical buttons -Haptic feedback

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Use Environment: -Home or residence -Dedicated space or room for mindful music listening

Target Market: -Male audiophiles -Age: 18-55

Benefit to User: -Opportunity to engage with and personalize the experience of playing of digital music.

Design Scope: -Review current tasks associated with music playing in audiophile environment -Propose an improved system-level design -Generate sketches of design concepts -Choose best fit to develop final design -Develop 3D renderings and visual models to illustrate final design

Design Process

In responding to the design brief, the design process was employed to review existing music play in the home environment and to propose a design response. The following section will outline this process leading to the final design concept.

Task Analysis

Beginning with a task analysis (shown in ID.01 below), existing music play in

the context of the home environment was examined in detail. This exercise considered

the tasks that guide the listening of music in the home of an audiophile in 2015. To

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define this, the soundscape of the home was broken into two zones: hearing and

listening zones. Hearing zones were areas where other tasks such as exercise, or

domestic tasks, occurred alongside the hearing of music. In these areas music was heard

as background sound. Secondly and most importantly, listening zones were those that allowed concentrated listening to situations that brought music experience to the foreground. These included isolated spaces where one could sit or stand in front of a loudspeaker, or to concentrate listening with headphones on.

A second area of study considered the analysis of user mood and music preference. This was employed by the user in two ways: either through cognitive analysis, or replaced with use of a software analysis to select one’s genre or music selection. In addition, the user had to choose the library they preferred to reference. That is, did they want to access music from the virtual or physical library? From these choices, a wide variety of play options followed, varying somewhat depending on the format chosen.

Given the current music play situation as noted in the task analysis, the current environment allowed a multitude of options, particularity in the realm of virtual and digital music. In this situation, the current play of music could be employed from a number of locations in the home and through a variety of devices. These devices included: laptops, personal computers, portable music players, or dedicated digital audio players. More specifically, it was discovered that the most important options were the ability to browse music collections, control amplification, and finely adjust playback sound through mixing boards or other user interface.

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System-level Design

Following the analysis of the existing situation, the current play structure appeared to be unnecessarily complicated and required simplification. A new system- level concept was proposed (shown in ID.02 below), to propose a central, dedicated control device where digital music could be organized and structured in a meaningful way. In this proposed system, the device would control the navigation of digital music files, streaming music, and the various applications that would allow one to communicate with web services on the internet. This device would be dedicated to the specific control and play of digital music.

In order to organize this, this music player would require connection to wireless power, internet, and stereo systems in the home. The internal processor would allow users to browse stored virtual libraries on the hard drive, or locate others from the internet to play them. These tracks would be directed to external amplifiers and adjacent speakers in the home such as loudspeakers, or those found on other devices such as a tablets or smartphones. Most importantly, this player would offer fine control of sound equalization and the adjustment of volume. This would facilitate a wide range of user preferences allowing one to save settings, and to export them to other applications for portability outside the home. Exported settings could then be transferred into portable music players, smartphones, or laptop computers.

Lastly, the device would communicate physiologically with user’s senses through tactile, auditory, and visual feedback. For example, the device delivers vibration to audiophile’s fingertips for fine adjustments, sound to the ears, and visual stimuli to

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the eyes such as animation, virtual graphics, and flashing light. In addition, the proposed

device would augment the digital self, allowing the option of sharing information back to the internet on applications such as: iTunes, Spotify, Facebook, Twitter, or

Soundcloud.

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Device Alternatives

To develop concepts to enclose the proposed system-level design, a variety of potential design solutions were captured in the morphological chart below. First, careful consideration of the physical form and human scale were noted. For example, a critical question was whether the device should exist inside or outside the human body.

Following this, information on the feedback and the form of interface was listed. Lastly, how the device would recognize human emotion and what mechanism would turn the device on or off, led to a variety of options such as body temperature and motion sensitivity. The top alternatives of this exercise were highlighted in orange to progress forward into further concept development.

Figure 35: Morphological Chart (Ball 2014).

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Following the morphological chart, a variety of concept sketches were generated

to explore the opportunities of this new device in more detail. These concepts sketches

are outlined in Appendix A. As illustrated, a number of alternatives were considered including a large jukebox or kiosk device, remote controls, biometric body devices, implants, analog interface, and image projection. Others such as a mask device that could provide focussed listening through sensory deprivation, considered new and innovative approaches to playing music. These sketches ultimately led to the most practical final concept; a physical handheld control device that integrated the details outlined below.

Proposed Industrial Design

To begin designing the product form of this handheld device, a series of basic

form studies were mocked up using computer-aided design (CAD) software. From

these, a final concept was selected and designed in the form of a digital prototype.

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Figure 36: Preliminary form studies developed in digital space (Ball 2014).

ID. 03 (shown below) illustrated the digital prototype in detail. As shown, the faceted form of this device was reminiscent of early Edison gramophone horns, and the

transparent, geometric form made reference to the invisible nature of sound. By adding

a round navigation control depressed into surface, allowed for understandable and

intuitive use. This was provided through a round finger location that organized

information such as volume, equalization, and track adjustment into meaningful

clusters. Lastly, this device would be played on the lap using a similar technique to a

steel guitar.

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When not in use, this object would be stored on table surface like a remote

control. As the user entered room, the device would recognize its owner’s gait or walking patter, using gestural recognition software. Through pulses of light and short backward and forward movement, the device would deliver feedback to the user, communicating that it wanted to be played. Following this, the user would pick it up, and the device would sense the user’s body temperature. Identifying a desire to be played, the device would glow colorful pulses of light, and the user would touch the finger navigation control to activate it.

As the device turned on, the user would hear a short section of their most played track. This would indicate that device was on, and ready to use. Once engaged, the user

would select a format (virtual collection, or streaming service) and browse tracks

leading to the play of a chosen song. During this navigation, and play of songs, the user could adjust volume and finely tune the subtle frequencies of playback sound through the equalization functions.

The interface of this device would be navigated through a touch screen and a flexing control interface. That is, once a selection was chosen from the menu it would be adjusted by lightly bending and twisting the device. For example, in adjusting sound equalization, high frequency sounds could be controlled on the left side, with bass adjusted on the right. The flexing movements of the pliable device would communicate with internal software providing colorful visual feedback through the screen.

Resultantly, this interface would offer a truly authentic experience in tuning the play of digital music.

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Design Conclusion

In reference to the design brief, the purpose of this design was to generate an

Industrial Design concept that connected the physical human body to the playing of digital music. The ideas outlined in this section address this by offering structured, tactile control of digital music. Like the music players of the past, such as the record player, this proposed form offers a unique playing experience that was specific to digital music.

The most important aspect of this device was that it delivered tactile and visual feedback to the user. With fine adjustments for sound such as volume and equalization, and the navigation of virtual music collections, this tangible device enables people to wander and explore their music collections using their hands and fingers. Like technologies of the past, the current form of this device will most certainly evolve over the years, but the intention is that it will remain a tactile, physical object.

Further, the appearance and vibrating feedback of these interactions could be highly customized based on user preferences, and enhanced through the use of creative software and innovative virtual interfaces. In addition, the employment of biometric sensors allowed this device to recognize its user. That is, when the user entered a room, the device responded to user’s biometric signature such as movement or gait, with flashing light and vibration adding emotional content to the device. Building from the work of Dunne and Raby, this emotional intelligence would have made the device likable and engaging.

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Anticipated challenges of this device include accommodating changing stylistic

culture trends, software platforms, graphics, and virtual interfaces. In addition,

geometric adjustments for future miniaturization of computer processing and battery space will provide more space for larger, more transparent surfaces. Some caution must be noted here as these technologies continue miniaturize, the physical form does not follow, breaking the ergonomic threshold. That is, as hardware continues to change in

size, the device must always fit the relatively unchanging anthropometrics of the human body.

Figure 39: Digital rendering of product on a tabletop surface (Ball 2015).

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Figure 40: Rendering of product in the context showing music visualization (Ball 2015).

Due to the advanced nature of this design, it is anticipated that this is a distant future innovation (5-10 years). Much more development would be required to create capacity to project images through clear surfaces, and to develop sensors to connect the user to the device. In addition, more testing would be required to develop a suitable transparent material that could accommodate both image display, and a flexing control

interface.

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The next steps moving forward would be to obtain funding for further research

and product development. First, a series of market tests would need to be initiated. This

would include use testing and interviews of target user groups to collect feedback. These

tests would validate brand position, market feasibility, and to confirm that the product

met expectations of audiophiles in terms of visual appearance, quality, and functionality.

Once confirmed, a utility patent or industrial design would be registered through the Canadian Intellectual Property Office, and a series of fully-functioning prototypes be

produced. These analytical prototypes would begin initial testing of physical

functionality alongside the development of innovative software to interface with the

computing functions of the device. As the product development progressed, the last step in this design would be to obtain the acquisition of this product by a reputable audio company with large-scale manufacturing capabilities and market distribution. This may

include companies such as Apple, Bose, Bang and Olufsen, Cambridge, Marantz, Sony,

or others.

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8. CONCLUSION

As a final synthesis, this project has illustrated that sound reproduction is a technology, and therefore has a type of extension from the human body. This technology has evolved over time from analog beginnings to become multi-layered and sophisticated. Further, the process of digitization has freed music recordings from physical objects and propelled them into the convoluted world of the computer and internet.

Subsequently, the products designed to deliver music are rapidly shrinking into smaller, less visible objects. Increasingly, these are becoming more efficient, and difficult to grasp with our human hands. This led to a fundamental question, given the diminution of these technologies what are the implications that might arise in the dematerialization of music?

Through the research in this project, it seemed clear that dematerialization of technologies, such as music, is advancing the efficiency of the devices that package and deliver digital information. Building from physical sound reproduction technologies of the past, digitization and dematerialization are allowing physical objects to dissolve into the computer, and delivering information in a much different way. In addition, these technological objects connect with people in more profound ways, allowing humans to extend themselves into the lives of others through the internet.

However, in adopting new digital technology, it simultaneously amputates older modes of playing music. As discovered with the sudden surge in vinyl record sales, it seemed apparent that there was something lost in digitization. This loss appeared in the

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amputation of the rich and physical experience of playing records. Consequently, this raised another point, that although dematerialized sound technologies will increasingly become an interface with the computer, they must always remain in some way a meaningful, tangible experience.

Accordingly, in adopting new forms of technology, one must be cautious. The current state of sound reproduction points toward a future where anything is possible.

Thus, in a world where virtually any product configuration is feasible, the future of sound reproduction technology presents new and exciting design opportunities where products reveal potential for converging functionality in unlimited scales (both large and small). As Industrial Designers rematerialize and repackage these seemingly invisible technologies, we must ensure they continue the trend to improve environmental efficiency and do not miniaturize beyond the ergonomic threshold. This delicate balance between environmental efficiency and usability remains the centre of this project.

In brief, the design response to dematerialized systems, uncovered the potential for a unique playing experience for the audiophile. What this concept built upon, was the idea that humans are physiological beings that fundamentally exist in a physical world. That physical world is becoming more sophisticated through technologies that shape the way we see (and hear) it. As technologies continue to evolve, they will always need to offer magical human experiences, and fit the relatively unchanging physiology of the human body.

Finally, from a much broader perspective, technologies, such as sound reproduction, are rapidly evolving to create fundamentally artificial environments that

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are drifting from the natural world. We must be very cautious of this artificial world, as

it can lead to an emphasis on efficiency becoming a kind of endless end-in-itself building non-neutral, biased technologies that control and govern human behavior. As the future of technology continues to change, we must shape our tools and maintain

control of the ways in which they shape us.

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GLOSSARY

Audiophile: an enthusiast especially interested in high-fidelity sound reproduction.

Convergence: the tendency for technology to change and evolve toward performing

similar tasks in a singular device (ie: smartphones).

Culture: the way of life of people, the sum of their learned behaviour patterns, attitudes,

and material things.

Dematerialization: to cause, to become, or appear immaterial. The reduction in the

quantity of materials required to serve economic functions (doing more with less).

Digitization: process of converting information into a digital format (ie: .mp3s, .wav

files).

Extension: an enlargement or augmentation in scope or operation (ie: tool as extension of human hand)

E-tail: the business of using the Internet to sell products directly to consumers

(ie: buying record or CD online).

Filmic: relating to, or resembling motion pictures.

Industrial Design: is the professional service of creating and developing concepts and

specifications that optimize the function, value and appearance of products and systems

for the mutual benefit of both user and manufacturer.

Interface: process by which computers or machines take input from, and may deliver

output to humans (ie: touchscreens, analog buttons).

Medium: any extension of a human faculty (ie: book as extension of the memory).

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Outerings: situated on or toward the outside; external; exterior: outer garments.

Obsolescence: the state of being which occurs when an object, service, or practice is no

longer wanted even though it may still be in good working order.

Psychoacoustics: the study of auditory perception in humans.

Rematerialization: the change of interface that occurs in devices following digitization.

Root Technology: the simple beginnings of a technology (ie: a simple projectile stone vs. today’s smart rifle with internet connectivity).

Singularity: a point at which a function takes an infinite value, especially in space-time,

when matter is infinitely dense, as at the center of a black hole.

Sound Reproduction: an electrical or mechanical inscription and re-creation

of sound waves, such as spoken voice, singing, music, or sound effects.

Technopoly: a society that believes that the primary, if not the only, goal of human

labor and thought is efficiency, and that technical calculation is in all respects superior

to human judgment.

Technostalgia: nostalgia for simpler technologies typically induced by technological

hypersaturation of the early twenty-first century (ie: vinyl collectors).

Technological Determinism: reductionist theory that presumes that a society's

technology drives the development of its social structure and cultural values.

Praxes: the practical assignment of use to an object.

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APPENDIX A

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APPENDIX B

Design Exhibit: Sound Reproduction Formats (March 31-April 17, 2014)

An element of this thesis project involved the collection of historically significant sound reproduction objects for analysis. These were purchased from a variety of international retailers, and each object was individually photographed for the images used throughout this document. The entire collection was exhibited in a graphical timeline inside the cabinet of the Kasian Gallery in the Faculty of Environmental

Design.

Figure B.1: Kasian Gallery- University of Calgary (funded by EVDS- research scholarship)

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Figure B.2: Kasian Gallery- University of Calgary (funded by EVDS- research scholarship)

Figure B.3: Kasian Gallery- University of Calgary (funded by EVDS- research scholarship

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