Rock legend Neil Young doesn’t have a bone to pick with the artists of today (well, he may but he didn’t sound off about it this week) but he is upset with the quality of recordings purchased through digital retailers.

“I don’t like it. It just makes me angry,” Young told MTV at the Slamdance Film Festival in Park City, Utah. “Not the quality of the music, but we’re in the 21st century and we have the worst sound that we’ve ever had. It’s worse than a 78 (RPM album)… Where are our geniuses? What happened?”

Young, at the Slamdance Film Festival to promote a film called ‘Journeys,’ explained that an mp3 only holds five percent of the data that an original file holds. He compares it to an artist only offering a small percent of a masterpiece to the consumer.

“That’s why people listen to music differently today. It’s all about the bottom and the beat driving everything, and that’s because in the resolution of the music, there’s nothing else you can really hear. The warmth and the depth at the high end is gone.”

The singer didn’t make it clear how his feelings on digital downloads will effect the release of the two (yes two!) albums with Crazy Horse he is working on. One is finished, and he says the other is in the works currently.

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