“Tidal” is a music streaming service. In the audiophile world Tidal battles with Qobuz for the top spot relative to loyalty among us audio snobs. Or should I say we battle with each other over which is superior relative to sound quality, file delivery, respective catalogues density and about which service provides the best high resolution sound potential. Both services are great, as are other options, and I do not argue with anyone about it these days. I tried them both and picked Tidal as a matter of familiarity. Again, for high quality streaming either service is excellent. There are of course other protocols (DSD / native files, etc..) which other hi fi passionates claim to be the “ultimate listening experience,” but I have neither the time nor desire to foray in to yet another domain, so to speak.

Today I present yet another market observation. Recently I and presumably millions of other Tidal users received notification about the monthly streaming service rate being increased by $1.00 over the current rate of $10.99 to a new rate of $11.99 per month. Folks I didn’t blink; heck, they’d have to push the rate past $89.00 or more before I’d consider cancelling. Especially if the artists received greater compensation, (Tidal does as well or better than other services in this area.) that’s a discussion for another time. I will say however, musicians would do well to better understand markets in the grand scheme, rather than trusting the “the man” (music producers) whereas negotiating compensation is concerned.

So what’s the big deal? Nothing in my mind, but the online chatter is pretty amusing, somewhat pathetic, and much of it comes in the form of cliché, ignorance, or downright indoctrination.

As is typical of the economically uneducated masses, some incantation about “those greedy corporations…” leads the list of tripe folks are seemingly outraged about. That refrain is typically followed with references as to how unfair Tidal is to artists. Then there are the tightwads — ugh, they are the worst. Most likely those miserly chirpers are not paying for Tidal or any other music service, yet they jump in to vilify for profit providers as matter of course. If one is a miser, high end audio, (the circles wherein I have these discussions) or even mid-fi is not a hobby one should consider. There is also the all encompassing “it’s just not fair” bunch. Go away already, no really– life is not fair. You know what is fair? Producers of cool stuff making money off of their efforts, as they come up with the cool stuff we integrate into our lives. Innovators and producers also came up with the very mechanisms of the information age that we use to interact with each other. Sadly, the online dolts have no compunction whereas their use of the cool stuff other’s made to quibble about how terrible providers of the cool stuff is concerned.

Sheesh… they are an exhausting crew, no doubt.

Well enough, I am betting none of those misguided, economics challenged keyboard warriors know this:

Upon launch, 2015 I believe, Tidal was $19.99 per month because the innovators (Thank you Jay-Z and Co.) knew there was an un-met demand for high resolution streaming. (MP3’s typically suck / on a nice system I can demonstrate that to anyone with decent hearing.) I jumped on board around 2017 at that price. Somewhere along the timeline, driven by market forces / need, Tidal split pricing wherein Hi-Res was $14.99 and non-hi res file delivery could be had for $9.99, which is still a great product for most listeners; really.

Now dig this: Apple was lagging in the high resolution streaming audio world, but when they did go high resolution at a lower price, the market pressure was far too great for Tidal to ignore; particularly given Apple’s already huge user pool. What did Tidal do? Tidal lowered hi-res pricing: The $19.99 HiFi Plus tier was completely merged into the base tier. Subscribers gained full access to high-resolution FLAC (free lossless audio codec) and Dolby Atmos audio for $10.99 per month (effectively cutting the price of premium audio by $9). This was the direct result of another popular streaming service responding to the demand for better fidelity across the marketplace. So, at $11.99 per month, Tidal still rules and I am not the least bit concerned about the rate.

This price restructuring was not the result of regulatory capture, or arbitrary boardroom villain’s trying to screw anyone. In this case, as is always the case with free markets, the consumer is heard and responded to without them or a single Senator, Congressman, President, or wannabe King saying anything. Money talks honestly and accurately when left the hell alone.

DL

The market is not fair, that dynamic is of great import for the consumer, and this screed is my attempt to share an observation along those lines.

Our water heater stopped doing what water heaters do, so cold showers are de rigueur until such time I can repair said home appliance.

A typical repair process for first failure of a residential water heater is to test for function of the pilot flame thermocouple. Having determined that to be the issue, I proceeded to the local big box store to purchase the type I have replaced in a half dozen units over the years, but oh no — the $9.00 part is no longer the proper solution; an entire thermocouple assembly is the proper service recommendation for this water heater. Represented in the image above, that assembly costs far more to replace than what was typical “back in the day.”

I have no problem with that notion, other than the fact the box store does not carry the assembly.

The box store up the street can get the part in 4-6 days according to their website, ($109.00) but of course an indeterminate number of cold shower days is unacceptable. As an old hand who is familiar with some trade suppliers, I expand my web search whereabouts a tried and true industrial supplier beat the box store by solidifying a day three delivery. ($129.00) This is certainly better relative to the cold shower exercise, but you know I had to try one other highly dependable source:

Amazon can have the assembly on my doorstep in two days, guaranteed, for just under $119.00, (quotes rounded / approximate)

What is fair really? Well, the box store doesn’t stock the item as excess inventory is not in the interest of their bean counters. This of course is not fair to the consumer who would prefer to do same day business with them, plus their position in this instance may add up to a loss to them, but no matter the case it is not a retailers responsibility to worry about my being inconvenienced in my home.

The online industrial supplier almost got my business and definitely did a better job concerning delivery, mostly by being specific about delivery timelines which was potentially very helpful to three folks not particularly enamored with home cold water hydrotherapy treatments. Unfortunately for them, maybe even unfair to them, is the proposition that more timely delivery is a service Americans are very vested in. To compete more effectively in the residential marketplace it might have been prudent, given internet order capacity, to train those no longer needed phone order takers (maybe let go / not fair) to be fulfillment experts wherein shipping is prioritized? It’s not fair that things change so fast, but innovation rarely takes place where everything is running in the black thanks to a status quo. Good news, I did note this supplier and they will be a go to in the future for purchases of less urgency, plus Amazon doesn’t carry everything, right?

As to Amazon, well what can you say but wow! Bezos’ vision and business execution has set a high standard for sure. Of course this is not fair, and why should it be? Also, check this out; the big box store(s) does offer delivery these days; they never used to. The online supplier used to deliver only to contractors, industrial companies, maintenance organizations, municipalities, etc. Now, thanks to the internet, ubiquitous shipping options, demand for doorstep deliveries with consideration relative to needs of adventurous do it yourself folks, there are very few suppliers which do not welcome the general public in their doors or online.

Add the DIY savings? Why come to think of it, this is all very wonderous, and way more than fair.

Markets rule, because they should. The alternatives are not wondrous nor fair.

DL

The next thing to hurt is going to be on my terms.

I am certainly on the mend, but months of invasive, painful and complication riddled health challenges have left my physical vessel weak, which includes a disconnect from my body I have not experienced before; a disconnect which has me in fear relative what I can do, should do, or want to do.

Well I have had enough of it. Old bodies hurt, especially the one’s which have been rode hard and often, but I will not be a slave to fear whereas my physical connection and activities are concerned. Badassery is not for the faint of heart; no one would accuse of me of being that, so why should I?

Today I will do any damn thing I want; shit needs to be moved, built, arranged, maintained and strained. Instead of waiting to feel okay enough to get to it, I am getting to it until something stops me. There is no person who could or would stop me, there is only breakage or fear.

I choose to push the limit, rather than to be limited by a voice which sounds like me, but is not mine.

DL

I am implored to help with a pressing issue manifest online and everywhere else apparently. It seems there is a glut of narcissists out there terrorizing, oppressing and manipulating their fellow travelers. Given the plethora of ridiculous ideas about how to “deal” with the narcissist, I shall lend my learned opinion based on experience, and dare I say growth.

If you keep running into, having to deal with, or are compelled to fix or win against a narcissist, your problem is in the the mirror.

We attract what we are, so chances are you are a needy little shit, which invariably sets you up to be dominated by other needy little shits.

I do what I can.

DL

I am not particularly averse to vaccines. I am however, adamantly opposed to force or coercion of any kind, especially when foisted upon us by those who should represent rather than rule. Defiant? You bet! Foolish? Perhaps, but unlikely, and most importantly I decide which chances I take. I implore all sovereign citizens; reserve your right to do the same.

A lifetime of not catching most of whatever is “going around” concurrent with typically mild symptoms the few times I have, provides information I employ to make decisions about my health. I have never in memory presented to a medical entity with, or sought medical treatment for a cold or flu. So what to do? As to getting the jab, I decided to wait. Bear in mind I have one serious comorbidity; heart disease, which required triple bypass surgery in month two of the great Gung Fu Flu lockdown. Healing from open heart surgery presents some challenges because getting to the heart is intensely invasive and it is just now, 15 months after the fact, that my thoracic cavity feels well healed. Intuition implored me to focus on physical rehab from the invasion, as well as mental adjustment to the aftermath of procedures performed on my person. The feedback loop of my cardio vascular mechanism is markedly different now, and it “talks to me” more distinctly as to it’s efficacy in any given moment. Plus, it has taken all of this time for intercostal pain to subside. Being sore is the result of inflammation, and one doesn’t need to be a doctor to know inflamed tissue is a place for bad things to happen. Also, as an actualized human being who respects my relationships with others, I made a commitment (Expressed Love) to my cardiac team to take care of their work because it has value. Love is that which provides the capacity for success in all things; they did. Bottom line? For myriad reasons I decided to not submit to external pressures relative to a respiratory bug vaccine and it’s potential side effects.

Now that I am confident about being well healed internally from a major medical procedure, I have reached out to my cardiologist to garner more information about vaccination. She and her team, having crawled around in my fore mentioned thoracic cavity, are my experts. It is her expert opinion variant strains do present more danger to the heart itself, and potential side effects are not a danger given my case, thus she recommends I get vaccinated.

Common sense compels me to continually to assess risk in all areas of existence. One does not have to be an “expert” to apply reason in absence of panic to make informed decisions.

In this instance my process of weighing factors includes only the possibility of sickness, suffering and death; mine – not yours’ by the way – nor will I include opinions of so called and oft times worshipped celebrity “experts” the masses enlist to rule their lives. I am fully prepared, in absence of vaccination, to endure the restrictions, castigation and inequities the unvaccinated will likely incur moving forward as it appears our culture has abdicated a primary tenet of American life; an individual’s freedom to make informed decisions about one’s existence in absence of force or coercion from others.

Ideally, I will make all decisions based on my capacity to reason given information at my disposal.

Fear can be a debilitating, destructive force which often thwarts a healthy desire to live fully.

Early spring 1976, Sophomore year of high school; a friend and I were approached by a local landscape construction guy to work after school doing work I had never done.  He’d pick my friend and I up after school and drop us off with minimal instruction at various residential jobs to dig ditches for sprinkler lines, move dirt and operate roto-tillers and sod removal machines.  Imagine the horror and fervor which would ensue these days if a ‘stranger’ pulled up in front of a (modern?) California metropolitan high school offering under the table wages for physical labor.  Anyway… we agreed on 3.00 per hour with no discussion of minimum wage.  I’m not sure what it was at the time, and did not care.  Typically that time of year we would get in three hours or so before the sun went down at which time Al would come pick us up and give us cash for our efforts.  He never gave us less than 10 or 15 bucks, and often just handed each of us a twenty if we’d accomplished more than expected.  No paper work, no work permits, no safety gear… hell, we didn’t even discuss it with our parents.  A week or so in Al did give us work gloves, a tape measure and provided other odd tools as we proved to be dependable.  Somewhere in time my dad asked who we were working for and I told him, “I’m working for Al , the guy who drives the white Chevy 4×4, you know,  he lives by the ball diamond.”  My dad knew of him from the neighborhood watering hole and simply said, “Oh, I hear he’s talented, drinks a lot, but seems like a nice guy.”  Al was decidedly not always a nice guy, but yes, he was very talented.  Two talents come to mind; his ‘less is more’ design style, plus a tremendous knack for doing more with less, hence the high school drive by labor force.

I enjoyed the dirt, being outside with sun on my back, and the changes forced on my body by the work.  I developed an affinity for Al. Likely because it seemed I was part of something, and certainly as the result of being treated as a young man rather than as a kid.  As summer came I worked with Al full time, such as it was, he really may have had a drinking problem so some days I didn’t hear from him.  I was 15 going on 16, but I felt like a grownup and worked hard to prove it.  Fridays were payday; we’d get to Al’s house in the afternoon, he’d pull a couple of beers out of a perpetually full Igloo which lived in the back of his truck, hand me one, then go into his house and cut me a check or grab some cash. We’d settle up, finish a Budweiser, chuck the cans in the back of the truck. Sometimes he’d offer me a ride home, I’d decline and start my walk home through the neighborhood figuring out what kind of mischief I could get in with my money.  Not much has changed.

In the modern vernacular young people, 14, 15 and 16 years of age are mostly referred to as ‘children’.  By today’s standards it would be said I was being exploited and abused.  By my standards, and those of my upbringing, these are memories of being a young man which will always remain among the fondest of my life.  That summer Al and I did a particularly lush landscape job at a home in a neighborhood near where I live today.  When I’m in the area, I purposefully drive by that home often.  The front yard has been meticulously maintained, and is the nicest landscape on the street.  The benches, privacy fence and foliage we installed are still beautiful having matured in precisely the fashion talented Al must have envisioned.  I am always moved.