Times-Advocate, 1988-10-26, Page 5ouble
ake
by
Bruce Shaw
Several years ago when I first became mayor I wrote weekly arti-
cles for the T -A in an attempt to assist with Council's problem of
communicating the reasons for its actions to the public. Jim Beckett
s.aggested that I give it another try after about a 12 -year holiday.
The obvious question that raises its head is "What will l talk
.about'.'" Well, since I am a politician, the topics are unlimited...
I should be good for at least a year's contract. As a secondary school
principal, add another year.
I am using this week's space to offer an introduction to both me
and what I might use as weekly themes. We should probably deal
with the one question that many ask, or at least think about: How
can you do both jobs and expect to do them well? It's a good,
thoughtful question, and I realize that some will be asking with an
answer already formulated, while others will be genuinely curious.
The answer becomes a little more difficult each year, as does my
lifestyle in that both tasks have become more demanding and com-
plicated. But,on the other hand, the years I've spent in both jobs (al-
most 15 years as principal and 12 years as mayor) have given me an
opportunity to develop skills in both compartamentalizing my re-
sponsibilities and managing my time.
(The real secret is that in the school and on council, I've sur-
rounded myself with very able, competent people who do every-
thing).
Only rarely, as a result, do thetwo jobs overlap. It is understood
by all those who know me that once I, or indeed others involved in
either area, believe I am performing poorly as principal or mayor, I
.will retire from one or both.
The key, I think, lies in the fact that no one enjoys his job more
than I. South Huron is staffed by excellent secretaries, custodians,
teachers and their assistants and (with a definite bias) exceptional
students. The surprises at the school are always challenging and re-
warding. The demands placed on me as mayor provide great opportu-
nities for personal growth, stimulation for the mind and ego and a
chance to assist in guiding Exeter through its development. From a
selfish perspective, I get a great deal out of both positions, BUT, if
I didn't think I was also giving much to both, someone else would
be tackling these jobs now.
Now, with that personal note out of the way, you should have
an idea �f the kinds of things you can expect to find in this space.
Actions by council that affect you will be central, but we live in
a very friendly, casual part of the province, and so I would also like
to deal with bigger issues that will, and are, being thrown at us.
The school, where you send almost 1,000 students, will also
provide material. In all cases I will attempt to be informative, reflec-
ti'e and, where possible, humorous. I invite replies that you would
or would not like printed and ideas for future columns.
Next week's topic, "The age of stupidity."
Back
ir time
10 years ago
• Derry Boyle was acclaimed as Exctcr mayor after Bruce Shaw
withdrew his nomination papers.
•Exeter council agreed to withdraw a stopwork order on the north -
end plaza.
•Precious Blood School hosted an open house to show off new
additions to the school.
•The courts began dealing with charges laid in the aftermath of the
Fleck Manufacturing strike.
20 years ago
' Exeter council debated whether hookup into the new sanitary sewer
system would be compulsory.
50 years ago
• A freak egg was brought into the T -A office by Mr. and Mrs.
Herman Powc of Centralia. The egg, laid by one of their chickens, was
81/2 inches long, and 61/2 inches around. When opened, it was found
to contain a perfect, smaller egg.
•The average man in Canada in 1937 earned $927 a year.
70 years ago
•In a pre -penicillin world, the Exeter Advocate offered tips to avoid
an influenza epidemic.
•Exeter council gave their usual annual $25 donation to the Agricul-
tural Society.
•Exctcr awaited the jobs and prosperity to be brought with the
opening of a factory of the Jackson Manufacturing Co., a maker of boys
clothing.
• A photograph showed Canadian soldiers returning from battle with
German machine guns and "other booty taken from the enemy."
R.E. Pooley Branch
Ontario 167
Exeter, Ontario
Poppy Drive Tues., Nov. 1
Revenue Fxoenaet}
Poppies & Poppies
Wreath $2374. & Wreaths $1075.
Donations $150. Advertising..... .$488.
Interest $106, Social work....$2355.
$2630 Bank charge...,...S7,
$3925.
beginning of year $4060
end of year $2765
Please support your local Poppy Drive
Fund balance,
Fund balance,
Expenses
• In excess
of Revenue
- (1295)
COMMERCIAL
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insurance needs, consider The
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EXETER:
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Times -Advocate, October 26, 1988 Page 5
Compact disc: five years of digital audio
By Adrian Harte
EXETER - The year was 1983.
The western world struggled out
from the influences of a recession.
The record industry was watching
consumers devote more and more of
their leisure dollars to video record-
ers, and tape rentals.
Then it came: digital audio. Some
people had been awaiting its arrival
for years, to others it was a sur-
prise. The engineers of Philips of
the Netherlands and Sony of Japan
had conspired to replace the time-
honoured turntable as the main
source of home audio. The com-
pact disc was born.
Basically, the compact disc, or
CD, stores musical information in
digital pulses and uses a computer
in the player to recreate the original
musical waveform. The diamond
stylus and vinyl LP of the record
player are replaced by a laser beam
and an aluminum wafer sealed in
polycarbonate plastic. The im-
provement in sound quality was
astounding.
In 1983, the first CD players cost
$1,800 and the discs were over 540.
People wondered if such an expen-
sive format would survive?
Survive it did, and CD has been
credited with singlchandedly saving
the audio industry from its dol-
drums.
This is not to say CD is univer-
sal. Current estimates put U.S.
market penetration of CD players as
high as nine or10 percent of house-
holds. This means 90 percent of
homes have yet to embrace the
technology. In rural Canada, one.
could easily expect an even smaller
market penetration.
Pat Yorke at MacLeans asks a
customer buying a stereo system if
she wants to include a compact disc
player.
"No way, I'm not spending S20
for a disc,' she replied. "I've got
tapes galore."
Yorke says that's a common re-
sponse for a stereo buyer. While
some players arc now less than
S400, he says the cost of the discs
still limits their sales.
Other buyers insist on a CD
player in their system and cost is
no object. Yorke estimates 20 peo-
ple are responsible for 80 percent of
MacLean's disc sales, perhaps buy-
ing a dozen at a time:
"They buy CDs like they're going
out of style," said Yorke. While
disc prices did not take an expected
drop this year, Yorke notes cas-
scttes have gone up, -making the
more durable, better sounding disc
seem a better buy.
MacLeans hasn't ordered albums
in the past year, but can special or-
der them for anyone who wants
one.
Oscars Video and Records cleared
out their last albums in the spring
and haven't missed them.
"It's funny, people just don't ask
for them," said Karen Monck, who
said cassettes are far and away the
most popular music source, since
most students own cassette players
of some sort. Cassettes dominate
the Top -40 sales, while CDs attract
an older buyer with a different taste
in music.
"It's more of the older stuff," said
Monck. "Things that have been
around a while."
Seventy-five percent of Monck's
cassette and CD customers arc also
male.
Of the stereos Oscar's sells,
Monck says the majority are
bought without a CD player, but
with the intention to add one later.
Many feel they have to upgrade
their stereo to get the full benefit of
CD.
Some London outlets rent discs
like video tapes, even with the
knowledge many are being copied
onto casscttcs. Oscar's have consid-
ered CD rentals, but don't think the
area is ready for it yet.
"I don't worry about it because I
don't think there arc enough CD
players out there," said Monek.
Patrick Knight at Star Time Vid-
eo agrees. He will consider Ci)
rentals if the disc price drops about
S5. With new pressing plants now
starting up in Canada, he antici-
pates a price cut soon. He also
worries that .while CDs are durable,
they arc not indestructible and
might suffer from careless handling
by renters.
One can buy a CD player in
about six places in Exeter, and
Knight thinks he has one of the
least expensive machines around:
an Emerson unit.for S199. Knight
says they sell well, but "they're not
as hot as VCRs when they came
out".
Sam the Record Llan in Exeter
has been carrying CDs for three
years, but they still only represent
10 percent of sales. Albums still
capture 15 percent of the market and
casscttcs take the lion's share.
Jay Alblas at Sam's says LP sales
have actually picked up since other
arca retailers stopped selling them.
Alblas said he expected a price
drop in CDs this year, but prices
have stabilized once more at S22 or
S23 for top releases. Older record-
ings are often released on CD at a
lower pricca,,but don't offer the son-
ic quality of a brand-new digital re-
lease.
Alblas thinks the CDs h st 'sell-
ing point, after its superb sound, is
its durability.
"If you look after them they're
going to last you so much longer,"
he said. Even with extreme care, a
vinyl LP will wear with playing.
This permanence of the CD for-
mat is what inspires buyers to buy
music they are going to be happy
with 10 years from now.
"It's the timeless albums, not the
one-shot pop type of things," he
said.
Alblas has noticed salts of turnta-
bies in the store have gone into
'limbo" as the CD has gathered
strength. Even cassette decks are
not as essential as they once were.
"With DAT corning I don't know
what to recommend any more," said
Alblas, referring to the new digital
recorders aiming at replacing the
cassette deck.
Alblas also has trouble envision-
ing the new three-inch CD single
taking the market by storm. The
mini -CDs can contain up to 20
minutes of music and should cost
around S8. Sam's doesn't have any
yet.
"We're having a hard enough time
to get people to buy the CD and
then to go and throw the singly at
them..." complained Alhlas.
Although faulty discs do exist,.
Alblas has had only two returned to
him in the past two years, unlike
the five or six defective cassettes
Sani's sends back to the manufac-
turcrs each month.
Alblas has personally owned a
disc player for four years. His
present unit is much better than the
first players on the market, and he
says he has noticed an improve-
ment in the quality of the discs
over the years.
Another reason Alblas thinks the
CD is destined for success is its
"user friendliness". The discs arc
easily handled, come with more art-
work and lyrics than cassettes, arc
shiny and attractive, are clearly
marked, and are very easy to use.
By the time the CD celebrates its
tenth anniversary, most retailers ex-
pect to sec the near -extinction of
thc traditional -turntable. Alblas
has already been warned of future
LP shortages as record pressing
plants close. He .says a newsletter
informs hen there is only one
record plant left in Canada.
THE FUTURE TODAY - Jay Alblas at Sam the Record Man says a CD
player is becoming an essential part of an enthusiast's hi-fi system. He
sees disc sales steadily increasing as more and more people move to the
new format.
Little & Evans
Barristers & Solicitors
Announce the
Relocation of their
practice to
71 Main St. N.
Effective 7 November, 1988
Same Phone No.
235-0670
THE MAGIC DISC - Compact discs are small, easy to handle, and re-
quire little cleaning. The disc in the foreground is one of the new, inexpen-
sive three-inch singles which will soon be seeking a share of the lucrative
CD market.
THE PARTNERS OF
NORRIS, HOMUTH,
TAYLOR, PIIZIDER &
McNEILLY
Chartered Accountants
are pleased to announce that as
of Monday, October 31, 1988
we will be relocating to our new of-
fices at
71 Main St. N.,
in Exeter
We will continue to use our
present phone numbers
235-0101 235-0120
Who's afraid of DAT?
Another product has been recently introduced to challenge the com-
pact disc's domination of high quality audio: it's called DAT, mean-
ing Digital Audio Tape, and it has the recording industry worried.
DAT boasts the same digital quality audio of the CD, except that
you can record on it. The record industry envisions CD sales plum-
meting as people buy the matchbox -size blank tapes and nrakc near -
perfect copies of their friend's CDs. The Recording Industry Asso i-
atiop4f America went so far as to ask for a law requiring DAT re-
corders to include a detector chip to prevent recording from a -special-
ly -encoded CD. Congress squashed the proposal partly because the
encoding ruined the CD's pristine sound quality.
Those in favor of DAT say home copying has never been much of
a problem anyway, unlike video pirating Operations. They sec DAT
as an equivalent 10 CD as the cassette deck is to the turntable.
One thing is for certain, DAT is going to be expensive if it ever
catches on. The decks arc built like miniature VCRs and will be
priced accordingly. Pre-recorded tapes will cost as much as, or more
thein CDs even though they do not have the CD's durability.
Record distributors arc also not happy with the idea of a quadruple
inventory: stocking a recording in DAT, CD, album and cassette.
Not everyone agrees digital recordings arc the cat's meow: Many
hi-fi dealers insist the turntable is still the best sound source extant.
However, few consumers have the opportunity to buy a 52,000 turn-
table with a S 1,(XX) cartridge.
. The final say will come from thc marketplace. 1f consumers de-
mand a tape deck built to digital standards, DAT will find its niche,
but if audiophiles arc content with a CD/cassette relationship, then
DAT might be limited to those fcw who demand the very best.
THE PARTNERS OF
NORRIS, HOMUTH,
TAYLOR, PIIZIDER &
McNEILLY
Chartered Accountants
are pleased to announce that as
of Monday, October 31, 1988
we will be relocating to our new of-
fices at
71 Main St. N.,
in Exeter
We will continue to use our
present phone numbers
235-0101 235-0120