Ken C. Pohlmann

The International CES is where new technologies are launched. Experts discuss what the market potential is, what consumers in that market really want, and how companies can deliver it. To that end, a show-within-the-show was created for hi-res music and the emerging market for high-fidelity recordings. Three panels are being presented, each with industry leaders with their pulse on hi-res music. The first panel discussed opportunities and challenges associated with the licensing and distribution of hi-res music recordings. Two subsequent panels will discuss ways to create and archive hi-res content, as well as ways to market hi-res titles.

The second installment of the hi-res music panels focused on content creation. Clearly, garbage-in, garbage-out. For great-sounding music in our homes, we must rely on engineers and producers to create it in the studio. Complicating that picture is the fact that artists and labels must also agree that sound quality is an important part of the job at hand. The panel tackled those and many other hi-res issues.

I have great news for you! All that gear in your home theater will soon be junk. Or, more specifically, obsolete junk. You see, Artificial Intelligence (AI) will soon revolutionize everything, including audio/video. Instead of wasting precious time twiddling knobs, you will simply have a pleasant conversation with an AI that, I am told, is far more intelligent than any of us.

Is this one giant step backward for technology? Another example of the evils of technology? Or just another case of misguided youth? It's hard to say. And I don't want to read too much into a small thing. But sometimes trends portend the future, and in this case, this is a future I don't particularly appreciate.