Actually many of the older taped shows were done on double speed recorders and the quality was often futher improved in the recent digital domain.... but regarding the "low quality vs. loss" I should point out that many live shows are now recorded with laptops directly in digital form. Some even with DVD type 24bit sound. Shorten is the current standard in lossless formats among those that exchange live shows (for example via Futhurnet.com) and if possible would be wonderful to play on our Empeg/Rio players.