In this book, worlds collide. The digital revolution seems like an attack on the established music industry. This affects not only the sound body but also the study, practice, mediation, performance, and dissemination of both new and old "serious" music in general. The positions represented here suggest a generational conflict between those who have grown up with the computer as a "second world" and promise themselves a gain in freedom through quantification and acceleration, and those who feel committed to an emphatic concept of work and art, thereby adhering to the immanence process of artistic production. Belief in progress in art is not a new phenomenon. Over a hundred years ago, Filippo T. Marinetti formulated his first futurist manifesto for a new machine art. However, it took a hundred years for the technical possibilities to hint at a qualitative leap. At the point of "quality," opinions diverge. And: Does the concept overshadow the idea, or does the latter dissolve into the former? Composition, musical practice, and musical perception stand at a crossroads. The rapid development of the digital world and its networking will not leave musical creation unaffected. For too long, there has been silence regarding aesthetic differences in new music. In this fundamental controversy, overdue and pressing questions about the future of new music are now raised and partly polemically contested. The controversy, which takes place between Johannes Kreidler and Claus-Steffen Mahnkopf following Harry Lehmann's introductory text, ultimately remains open-ended and will surely spark further discussions. The concluding contributions include personal texts from the broader context of the debate.