Then again, compared to audio equipment in 1980, any CD or DVD player is "fancy." I can remember digitizing audio in the 70's and saving it to disk; Playback was the reverse and you could only get a few seconds at rates that would allow the full audio spectrum. Not too difficult to get vocal range for extended periods, but since 50Mb disk drives were the size of washing mashines, you just couldn't do the same things you can do today. Twenty years later and you can store a gigabyte on a 5.25" media. If we maintain the same rate, we will be storing 50 terrabytes in a pea-sized pod by 2020 - And we're not maintaining the same rate, we're accelerating.

The advances in digital technologies make most of the other fields in audio look like stone knives to me. Loudspeakers haven't really changed in 100 years, no matter what spin is proffered by those pushing them. Magnetic tape development is pretty much stagnant, and turntables are really more of an art than a technology. No offense meant to anyone in these fields - I'm involved in building loudspeakers, you know, and I take great pride in making a good product. Turntable builders may also advance their craft and make beautiful instruments. But the point is that there are no greater leaps than those made by the computer guys, and the difference in improvements is probably on the order of million-fold per decade.