Reed expresses disdain for technology

AUSTIN, Texas, March 14 (UPI) -- U.S. singer-songwriter Lou Reed has criticized how technology has changed the way people listen to music, the Toronto Star reported Friday.

Talking to a South by Southwest festival audience at the Austin (Texas) Convention Center, Reed discussed digital downloading and inventions like the MP3 player and iPod.

"The trade-off is you have a lot available to you and it sounds bad. People have got to demand a higher standard," Reed said. "People who like good sound are gonna be looked at like some kind of zoo animal. It's like technology is taking us backwards."

As for his songwriting methods, the Star quoted Reed as saying not even he knows how they get written.

"People always ask, 'How do you write a song?' And I don't know. I wish I knew, because I could have done 'Walk on the Wild Side 2' and I would now own an island in the Caribbean," he said.