I still don't see why it couldn't be called mobile recording and lump laptops, Portastudios, and Tablets all together since mobile recording does have its own set of problems beyond just an IPad/Android/Surface (I did say that huh) applications.
I think this is a good idea.
You're right about device recording opening up the field to a bigger group of people. But the tool itself isn't mediocre. You or I could easily make the music we're making today with an iPad.
The iPad is just another tool/medium that can be used in recording. The medium used in recording is not responsible for the quality of the recordings that people come up with. Whether or not there are or will be lots of 'incompetents' making recordings because it is easier to make recordings than it was 30 years ago is utterly irrelevant. It's good that there's choice and variety.
Downside: laptops aren't apptops. It's the app revolution that would drive a new forum like this. Question: how many people do we get asking questions about portastudios?
Where you have a variety of ways of achieving the same end {eg, a finished recording for someone to play}, it stands to reason that, people being people, they're not all going to enjoy the same degree of popularity.
But that's no reason to toss the less used [portastudios/laptops/cassettes etc] gear out into the wilderness. A number of contributors here began with and can therefore still answer about things like portastudios. There's room for it all because the real meat is in how you go about it far more than the what you go about it on.
The idea was just to broaden the scope and make it maybe acceptable to more people.
And that's why it's a good idea.
Also, if you go through the archives of 15 years of HR.com, you'll find that actually, not much has really changed. There are still the clueless, the know it alls, the abrasive, the over sensitive, the seekers, the talkers, those that come and go, those that stay and those that don't stay long etc.
One of the things that makes this a pretty good site is it's sheer scope and versatility.
use it, enjoy it but there is currently no way it can out perform even a moderately priced laptop.
For you yes. For me, yes. But we are not the world, we are not the children.......
It all has a place, if only for a season, because
someone will find a way to make it work and if one can,
