I think you are mis-interpreting the technology used in making the music. The audio recording is not gigabytes of data needed to play it because it is not real audio data that is used in the first place, at least not in the file that is compressed anyway. It is not the audio itself in the original real clarinet recording used to make the compressed file but rather using a computer model a computer literally reproduces the original performance based on everything it knows about clarinets and clarinet playing i.e. the physics of a clarinet and the physics of a clarinet player and then reproduces it accordingly by way of a virtual model. Once this technology is spot on in its reproduction capabilities for any given instrument known and used in todays world and even those from yesteryear the real instrument would then be unnecessary in the recording of subsequent audio because the virtual instrument will have "learned" to reproduce the sound just as well as the real thing - without the tons of audio data necessary to record actual real instruments in an audio environment.

As far as putting musicians out of business, if this technology succeeds in a big way session players could become obsolete in my opinion, as well as musicians used in other recording venues such as in various types of Studio recordings. In other words, once the virtual instrument "learns" the behavior from its counterparts i.e. real instruments, thereafter the real instruments wouldn't be needed at all to produce music for the virtual modeling counterpart. If the virtual instrument(s) know(s) everything about the real instrument(s) already, both in the physics aspect of the instrument itself and the physics of the instrument player used to play the instrument(s), then only the virtual counterpart would be necessary to reproduce the music and/or sound of any given instrument, without the need of using real instruments at all to do so. At least so the theory goes anyway.

PS: I choose not to dabble in superstition. Neither does Stevie Wonder by the way. Next thing you know there will be conspiracy theorists coming out of the woodwork too.

Best,
Mike

[This message has been edited by keybplayer (edited 04-04-2008).]