Is DSD download already an extinct format?

Dasign, I don't know what Sony is thinking either. We've been promised high-res downloads for many years now and finally about a year ago Sony tells us, "Here comes the big push! We're going to have servers and tons of downloads everywhere!" And then...nothing!

As you said, same old albums but priced even higher, when all they have to do is electronically send files to the resellers. They won't even tell us what the source for the file is.

What are they thinking? That they're going to get the free Mp3 crowd to buy into high-res downloads, not even a physical product, at $25 an album?

I haven't given up all hope yet, but I'm not buying in until the server and download situation improves significantly. I have enough music so that I can listen to a variety of great music if I never buy another Lp, Cd, Sacd or download again and I'm sure that there are a lot of other people in the same position.

I think that this is their last chance to get it right or the major music groups are going to be sitting on huge worthless catalogs of music for a long time.

Pkoegz,

You have missed out on tons of great music with your buying choices, but ignorance is bliss, as the old saying goes.

Rja,
I agree with you that the high-res situation is a real mess at present. I hope they manage to get easy to use servers in a variety of configurations available (server only, server and dac, all-in-one, etc.) along with reasonably priced high-res downloads that actually sound clearly better than cds. If things keep going as they are now, I see high-res downloads becoming another fumbled opportunity by Sony. I can't understand why a company with their resources can't get it together on a huge moneymaking opportunity.

Hey Rja,

You've got a long way to go before you can be considered obsessive by these guys standards:

The Obsessive Lp Collector

The World's Number One Audiophile

So enjoy those cds and don't feel guilty!

Sony especially needs to show a big and continued commitment to the format after what they did with Sacd and other formats like Dat. They have to prove to us that they're committed to making the format a success.

We don't owe it to them to buy albums we already have or don't want at prices that I find hard to explain.

I'd be happy to buy in to high-res downloads and will when they offer products I want at a reasonable price and I know that they aren't going to discontinue the format in a year or so because it's not replicating the success of the Cd.

Tbg, I think most of us think or at least hope that DSD downloads along with user friendly servers will be a worthwhile upgrade. We have a problem with the low number of titles available, the fact that we've already been sold most of them a couple of times and the price of said downloads.

Also, Sony has burned us before (e.g. SACD), so a wait and see attitude is appropriate. The HAP-Z1ES looks like a pretty nice server but it's not really what I want (no dac and digital ins and outs).

So I'm hoping that one of the guys making the big bucks will have a moment of inspiration and say, "Hey! Let's build a variety of servers so that people can get the features they want, and while were at it, let's get thousands of titles into the marketplace and sell them at prices too good to pass up! After all we have to digitize our old tapes anyway and our new stuff is already being recorded digitally." But that guy would probably be fired immediately. So I'm being cautious for now.