"Marty is currently in the studio beginning preproduction on his eighth solo album." Correction: "Marty is currently in the studio beginning preproduction on yet another hyper-compressed, loudness-maximized, digitally sterile solo CD." Are you even aware how much you keep contradicting and embarrassing yourself? You say analog recording is "old and impractical". I say: so freaking what??? It is the SOUND that matters, not convenience! Vinyl records are also old and impractical, so should we stop listening to vinyl and only listen to CDs instead??? God, your statements can be so silly sometimes. We like vinyl because the sound is superior. We like analog tape for recording because the sound is superior. You know damn well that rock and metal sounds best in analog. Guitars, bass and drums sound best on tape. And any engineer who says he can make digital sound as good as analog is a damn liar. Notice the subtle implication in your own wording: "...as good as analog". So you are implying that analog is better but that digital can somehow be made to sound "just as good". *YAWN*. In answering someone's question about this issue you said yourself last year that for rock and metal you also prefer the superior sound of analog, yet you record all your albums digitally. You don't care about sound. For you all that matters is cost, convenience and the editing and manipulating capabilities offered by digital recording. I don't know one top engineer who says digital is as good as analog but they do say "I don't care anymore". And the thing about not enough people owning turntables to warrant a vinyl release of your albums is utter nonsense. Lots of metal bands are still releasing their music on vinyl. I am even seeing vinyl releases from garage bands on independent labels. Until you start recording and mixing on analog tape and release your music on vinyl, don't bother me with yet another of your "solo albums". I am not buying it...

Your opinions are valid, but it`s impossible to please everybody! In fact the difference of opinions is what makes life interesting. My friend Jason Becker, who I admire endlessly, loves Bob Dylan. I would rather stick shards of glass in my eyes than listen to his singing. It doesn`t make me love Jason any less. In fact it gives us one more thing to friendly joke about. I like Coke, you like Pepsi. What "sounds best" is also in the opinion of the listener. There is no right answer! I would assume though, that most people would purchase music because the music itself makes them happy, and not because of "fatter low end" or "clearer highs in the 5k range"...What do I know, it`s only my opinion!