For each advance in technology, they got better quality.

From Edison’s primitive wax cylinder, to a spinning vinyl disc, to rolls of plastic tape, and then to plastic spinning discs. From mono to stereo to Dolby. Radio went from AM to FM. Movies moved from silent to cinema-scope. Television from black and white to color, to Hi-Def.

And our generation? Still settling for MP3 and Flash. Why? Because, for today’s music consumer, they’re good enough. That’s why 18-to-30 year olds are what some of us are calling the GEs, the Good Enough generation.

MP3 music is a step backward from what came before it, but it’s good enough. TiVo video was a step backward from live television, and two steps back from HD, but it was good enough. And don’t get me started on YouTube.

Quality and convenience have always been a tradeoff. But in this millennium it seems that convenience has won out. While you can pay more for better quality music in the iTunes store, Apple’s Steve Jobs is not selling music or portable devices to play it; he’s selling convenience.

And we’re willing to accept lower quality for convenience. That’s why they deliver pizzas, and not paella. That’s why you watch beautiful Ugly Betty HD on your digital video recorder, and not live.

Of course, that does not explain those who tolerate crude video on a PC screen -- and cumbersome procedures -- just to boast seeing the latest motion picture before it’s even released. Convenience is not what motivates fans of BitTorrent or LimeWire, or the other so-called video "sharing" sites.

“But wait”, you say. “How do you explain all that money we’re spending on 52-inch plasmas TV screens? Isn’t that buying quality?”

Not necessarily. How high technology can deliver low quality, on the next page.