Not so long ago we were content to watch grainy, blurred images on our televisions. Today, however, many of us seem to have a mania to try and recreate the authentic cinematic experience in our homes. DVD displacing VHS was the key change. Many of us just didn’t realise how bad VHS was until it was gone. With the much greater clarity that came from the digital images, we felt impelled to invest in home theatre systems, surround sound, and large-screen televisions with high resolution. With Blu-Ray, HD DVD and the switchover to digital television looming, it looks like changes in the market for audio and video technology will continue apace, with consequent strains on our pocket books.

And while CDs had once displaced records in a similar way, and are still selling relatively well, true audiophiles have come to appreciate the richness of DVD Audio. The far greater storage space allows for much subtler aspects of the musical sound to come through. For sheer convenience, of course, you can’t beat MP3 players. Their popularity has revolutionised the way many of us listen to music, avoiding the need to carry cumbersome tapes with us whenever we wanted to listen to sounds on the move.