Archived from groups: rec.audio.high-end (More info?)
Off an on for some months now, I've been researching the history of hte 'green pen'
tweak...which I think will become (if it has not already become) the classic case
of audiophile cultural folly. I'd appreciate any leads anyone can send regarding 'priamry
sources' other than the ones I describe below.
I've seen several refefences to the idea that the tweak began as a practical joke on Usenet
or an audio email list.
The earliest Usenet posts I find on google taht fit the bill are in this thread:
http
/www.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&selm=1260005%40hpvcfs1.HP.COM
from Mssrs. Neff and Mayhew.
In a later post, Mr. Mayhew 'fesses up to having penned an April Fools' article circa 1987
on rec.audio, where he belives he may have started the hoax:
http/www.google.com/groups?selm=1991Aug20.120708.15216%40uhura.neoucom.EDU&output=gplain
I haven't been able to locate the original 'Foolie' yet, nor track down the AP wire story
printed in the Portland Oregonian circa Dec 89/Jan 90 that supposedly 'broke' the news to
the public.
I have archived some of the articles listed in the snopes.com entry
http/www.snopes.com/music/media/marker.htm
excerpts reprinted below; they make for interesting yet somehow familiar reading, I think.
from
The Half-Amazing, Half-Crazy Greening of CD Sound:[Home Edition]
PATRICK GOLDSTEIN. Los Angeles Times (pre-1997 Fulltext). Los Angeles, Calif.: Mar 4, 1990.
pg. 73
Full Text (661 words)
....
Call it the Big Green Clean.
It's the hot new topic of debate among CD fanatics-and a claim being taken seriously by CD
experts, most notably Pete Howard, publisher of the respected International CD Exchange
(ICE) newsletter and resident Rolling Stone CD columnist. Howard says he discovered the
craze when one of his subscribers sent him a story from a Beaverton, Ore., paper detailing
claims made by an audio store owner there.
After interviewing several other people who've tested out the theory-and trying it
himself-Howard is no longer a complete skeptic.
"I was intrigued, as would anyone who discovered that you could make what amounts to a
$1,000 upgrade on your sound system by simply spending $1.25 for a green felt marking pen,"
he said. "I think you'd have to say it's half-amazing and half-ludicrous. But I'm getting
calls from people who are using adjectives like `incredible' and `terrifyingly improved.'
Everybody seems to agree there's something there."
The green felt marker fad isn't the only craze sweeping the CD ranks. According to a
four-page story by Sam Tellig in the current issue of Stereophile magazine, you can also
improve CD sound quality by coating your CDs with (now you really have to sit down)
Armor-All spray cleaner. (You coat the playing surface and wash off the Armor-All before
playing.)
Both schemes sound pretty farfetched to us. But Howard isn't so sure. "What makes this such
a potentially fascinating story is the implication that after millions of CDs have been
tested and manufactured, consumers can suddenly buy a green marking pen or a cleaning spray
cleaner and dramatically increase their CD sound. Enough people have come to me that you'd
have to say something is happening here, even if you don't know what it is."
....
//
From :
Felt-tip markers stir a hue and cry over CD clarity;For a clean sound:[FINAL Edition]
Bruce Schwartz. USA TODAY (pre-1997 Fulltext). McLean, Va.: May 10, 1990. pg. 04.D
Full Text (1175 words)
....
Do these remedies work? The believers reply: Just listen.
``It's amazing that you can improve billion-dollar technology with a two- buck marker,''
says Pete Howard, publisher of International CD Exchange, a monthly newsletter. He's
convinced the markers have an effect, but isn't sure it is dramatic.
Adds Sam Tellig, writer for Stereophile, a high-end audio magazine: ``I get a great deal of
satisfaction in showing that these tweaks take the `perfect-sound-forever medium' and make
it a little more perfect.''
Stereophile runs a number of home remedies through a battery of tests in its April issue.
The results: No consistently measurable differences in data retrieval between treated and
untreated discs. But the tester heard a difference.
If you have an experimental nature, here are the methods to the madness:
The turquoise edge. Run an Eberhard Faber Design Art Marker No. 255, a blue-green, along the
outer edge and inner rim, being careful not to get it on the top or bottom surfaces.
The concept became public when a Portland, Ore., audio salon owner, on the advice of a
customer, tried it on one of his discs. ``Within three beats, I heard a difference,'' says
Dave Herron of Audio Alternative.
He describes the sound as ``more musically accurate; there are more subtleties. Pianos have
the correct harmonics, and violins aren't harsh.''
Herron theorizes that the color absorbs random reflections of the laser inside the CD. That
blue-green shade seems to absorb the light's wavelength most readily, he says.
Says ICE's Pete Howard, ``Something is definitely happening here. But to what degree is a
bone of contention.''
How much you hear depends on how analytical your stereo system is: ``Can you hear it at
home,'' he says, ``or do you need a recording studio situation? ... I'm just not sold on
hearing it at home yet.''
....
//
(NB, David Herron was *still* defending the green pen tweak, as of at least two years ago,
on rec.audio newsgroups.)
--
-S.
Why don't you just admit that you hate music and leave people alone. --
spiffy <thatsright@excite.co>
Off an on for some months now, I've been researching the history of hte 'green pen'
tweak...which I think will become (if it has not already become) the classic case
of audiophile cultural folly. I'd appreciate any leads anyone can send regarding 'priamry
sources' other than the ones I describe below.
I've seen several refefences to the idea that the tweak began as a practical joke on Usenet
or an audio email list.
The earliest Usenet posts I find on google taht fit the bill are in this thread:
http
/www.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&selm=1260005%40hpvcfs1.HP.COMfrom Mssrs. Neff and Mayhew.
In a later post, Mr. Mayhew 'fesses up to having penned an April Fools' article circa 1987
on rec.audio, where he belives he may have started the hoax:
http
/www.google.com/groups?selm=1991Aug20.120708.15216%40uhura.neoucom.EDU&output=gplainI haven't been able to locate the original 'Foolie' yet, nor track down the AP wire story
printed in the Portland Oregonian circa Dec 89/Jan 90 that supposedly 'broke' the news to
the public.
I have archived some of the articles listed in the snopes.com entry
http
/www.snopes.com/music/media/marker.htmexcerpts reprinted below; they make for interesting yet somehow familiar reading, I think.
from
The Half-Amazing, Half-Crazy Greening of CD Sound:[Home Edition]
PATRICK GOLDSTEIN. Los Angeles Times (pre-1997 Fulltext). Los Angeles, Calif.: Mar 4, 1990.
pg. 73
Full Text (661 words)
....
Call it the Big Green Clean.
It's the hot new topic of debate among CD fanatics-and a claim being taken seriously by CD
experts, most notably Pete Howard, publisher of the respected International CD Exchange
(ICE) newsletter and resident Rolling Stone CD columnist. Howard says he discovered the
craze when one of his subscribers sent him a story from a Beaverton, Ore., paper detailing
claims made by an audio store owner there.
After interviewing several other people who've tested out the theory-and trying it
himself-Howard is no longer a complete skeptic.
"I was intrigued, as would anyone who discovered that you could make what amounts to a
$1,000 upgrade on your sound system by simply spending $1.25 for a green felt marking pen,"
he said. "I think you'd have to say it's half-amazing and half-ludicrous. But I'm getting
calls from people who are using adjectives like `incredible' and `terrifyingly improved.'
Everybody seems to agree there's something there."
The green felt marker fad isn't the only craze sweeping the CD ranks. According to a
four-page story by Sam Tellig in the current issue of Stereophile magazine, you can also
improve CD sound quality by coating your CDs with (now you really have to sit down)
Armor-All spray cleaner. (You coat the playing surface and wash off the Armor-All before
playing.)
Both schemes sound pretty farfetched to us. But Howard isn't so sure. "What makes this such
a potentially fascinating story is the implication that after millions of CDs have been
tested and manufactured, consumers can suddenly buy a green marking pen or a cleaning spray
cleaner and dramatically increase their CD sound. Enough people have come to me that you'd
have to say something is happening here, even if you don't know what it is."
....
//
From :
Felt-tip markers stir a hue and cry over CD clarity;For a clean sound:[FINAL Edition]
Bruce Schwartz. USA TODAY (pre-1997 Fulltext). McLean, Va.: May 10, 1990. pg. 04.D
Full Text (1175 words)
....
Do these remedies work? The believers reply: Just listen.
``It's amazing that you can improve billion-dollar technology with a two- buck marker,''
says Pete Howard, publisher of International CD Exchange, a monthly newsletter. He's
convinced the markers have an effect, but isn't sure it is dramatic.
Adds Sam Tellig, writer for Stereophile, a high-end audio magazine: ``I get a great deal of
satisfaction in showing that these tweaks take the `perfect-sound-forever medium' and make
it a little more perfect.''
Stereophile runs a number of home remedies through a battery of tests in its April issue.
The results: No consistently measurable differences in data retrieval between treated and
untreated discs. But the tester heard a difference.
If you have an experimental nature, here are the methods to the madness:
The turquoise edge. Run an Eberhard Faber Design Art Marker No. 255, a blue-green, along the
outer edge and inner rim, being careful not to get it on the top or bottom surfaces.
The concept became public when a Portland, Ore., audio salon owner, on the advice of a
customer, tried it on one of his discs. ``Within three beats, I heard a difference,'' says
Dave Herron of Audio Alternative.
He describes the sound as ``more musically accurate; there are more subtleties. Pianos have
the correct harmonics, and violins aren't harsh.''
Herron theorizes that the color absorbs random reflections of the laser inside the CD. That
blue-green shade seems to absorb the light's wavelength most readily, he says.
Says ICE's Pete Howard, ``Something is definitely happening here. But to what degree is a
bone of contention.''
How much you hear depends on how analytical your stereo system is: ``Can you hear it at
home,'' he says, ``or do you need a recording studio situation? ... I'm just not sold on
hearing it at home yet.''
....
//
(NB, David Herron was *still* defending the green pen tweak, as of at least two years ago,
on rec.audio newsgroups.)
--
-S.
Why don't you just admit that you hate music and leave people alone. --
spiffy <thatsright@excite.co>
gEEc.5673$Oq2.541@attbi_s52...
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