Neil wrote:For example does a musician look at the feel of a piece of music, or does he try to check out it's technical imperfections?
now, would a good musician down-rate this piece cos it has a floors? would a listener even know that it has floors?
Sometimes things just 'feel' wrong and a non-musician can see/hear that. Likewise, I think it's dangerous to tar everyone with the same brush. While I don't do C64 remixes, I've been a musician for a long time, releasing my own CDs via
http://www.vmuonline.com. However, when reviewing music (here and elsewhere) I usually first look for the atmosphere and feel of a piece, and not technical imperfections. In fact, the latter is only discussed if it interferes with the piece. (Of course, artistic imperfections, such as the wrong choice of voice, are ususally more apparent.)
I'm also quite harsh when notes are innacuate--witness the Sanxion lead that almost no-one gets right--but in some cases, even that doesn't matter.
Maybe your point is essentially that non-musicians are likely to have more of an open mind when it comes to reviewing, due to not being 'in the biz'. However, I would say that too is debatable, as many are governed by their own listening habits, whereas musics tend to be directed also by their craft and feelings.