The future, eh? In the technology business, the future means great change - new ideas, new concepts, new tools. I'll have some fun here and try to predict a few things that the future may hold for music and technology...

1 year from now: Computer-based home studios become more the de-facto standard than ever before, trumping more tracks, more effects power, more storage at even cheaper prices. New "plug-in" audio features and "physical modeling" programming make computers even more valuable to musicians, but still aren't quite practical yet. People are buying more DVD players than CD players, and some are even buying the extra speakers for surround sound. A few records are released on DVD that boast 5.1 surround sound and even better sonic quality, but few people believe it.

10 years from now: Microphones and acoustic instruments are almost obsoleted, and almost become collector's items - digital models of almost every instrument ever made are available, though not completely mastered by musicians yet. A cheap home computer can do anything that the top-flite studios of previous years could do (and then some), and this is best showcased by a few artists who do amazing sonic things all by themselves. The Internet is the standard for music distribution, though it's still run by corporations; MP3 was surpassed years ago by MP5, which uses fractal and bi-directional motion compression techniques.

100 years from now: Music in this era is very simple; if you dream it, you can "play" it. By this time, "computers" are no longer silicon-based, but quantum element-based, making power and speed a non-issue. With either implants or brainwave readers (the crystal ball isn't quite clear on this), the music you hear in your head is translated directly to chemical information and distributed to anybody else, almost instantly, to anyone who wants to hear it. Anybody is a musician - technique is not necessary. "Performances" are done by groups of people just sitting and thinking about (and hearing) the music - ears are no longer necessary to hear it, and hands are no longer necessary to play it.

Imagine THAT!