How the quality of sound digitaly degrades

I read this article a while ago and could not for the life of me remember which magazine I had seen it. After a little bit of searching I found the source (Alec Hanley Bemis in Wired Issue 13.07 - July 2005).

It's a sort of dummies guide to how digital (/read computers) have brought the quality of sound down. Interesting that most of webgen have not actually heard vinyl and that their benchmark for sound quality is probably a little lower. I wonder what the implications of this are for the future?

Wyclef Jean on the mic at Crystal launching his new album Carnival II: Memoirs of an Immigrant, originally uploaded by Craig Grobler.

The article highlights that the 6 main factors effecting the degradation of digital sound are:

1. Studios
2. Recording Media
3. Compact Discs
4. MP3s
5. Sound Cards
6. Speakers

Read the article over here at Wired for more detail of the 6 factors above.