SACD - Dying already?

The history of high end audio has always been taking mass media and squeezing the most out of it through great equipment. First with vinyl and later with CDs. I really believe that Sony set back the high resolution digital movement by introducing SACD to compete with DVD-A. DVD is the new mass media, witnessed by the unprecedented sales of DVD players since their introduction, not SACD. DVD-A is the next logical step, but Sony had to try to keep their market share and tried to get a leg up on the competition by introducing SACD before DVD-A was ready. DVD-A in turn was forced to rush out before it was really ready. It worked for the short term, but only appealed to audiophiles who were prepared to buy still more new equipment to play the new format. This only confused the public and alienated older folks like myself who recall the betamax debacle.

If not for SACD, DVD-A would be the new standard, we would have a hi-res format that was accepted by the public since they could be played in their new dvd players, and we would have started to fine tune the new format to everyones delight.

Now we are in danger of having mp3 become the new mass media, which will probably never (never say never?)have hi-res capability. Yes, SACD is dying, lets just hope it didn't kill hi-res digital in the process.

Ipersonally think SACD and DVD-A are going to fade as soon as the "BluRay" or whatever they plan on calling the next step in higher density media palyback.
IF the group can come up with a really solid ONE KIND OF FORMAT... The multiple formats just KILL the chances of the participants. Too many want to wait to see which one is the "right one" so neither ever gets past taxi-ing around on the ground.

I agree with Elizabeth on both points. Well said.

Tony writes:

DVD is the new mass media, witnessed by the unprecedented sales of DVD players since their introduction, not SACD. DVD-A is the next logical step, but Sony had to try to keep their market share and tried to get a leg up on the competition by introducing SACD before DVD-A was ready.

A company can do what it wants. Sorry. You're saying DVD movies sell well, much better than CDs, therefore music on DVD or DVD-A will sell just as well. You're confusing correlation with cause. (It's like saying expensive 10-speed bikes *cause* middle age, pattern balding, road rage, and obscene use of spandex in men, though there is a correlation, 10 speeds aren't a cause.) Just because people buy more movies in the DVD format doesn't mean they will buy more music in the DVD-A format, and a reminder--one must buy a DVD-A machine. Music DVDs have been around for years; surely they would have obviated CDs if people were *that* hungry for media with their music. Another thing. SACD is a *recording technology* not a product. Any company that wishes may use it, depending upon what their target consumer wants, regardless of what happens to Sony. How hard is this? Finally, it's interesting to me that the high-rez crowd doesn't feel it necessary to say "Redbook CD is dead" every time a new SACD comes out, which suggests to me a confidence in the format. What I see reading many of your posts between the lines is a lot of self-reassurance, that your CD player and collection still have relevance. If I had recently put a $10K CD player on a high-interest credit card, I'd be shouting "SACD is dead" every chance I got. Thou doth protest too much. Relax, if your Redbook sounds so good.

Jdaniel, you misunderstand some of my opinions. In saying Sony "had" to try to keep their market share, I wasn't implying they shouldn't make business decisions that are in their best interests. For them it was the right thing, they risked losing a very profitable sector of their business and "had" to try and save it. My point was that a result of Sony's business decision was to cause confusion among the public, slowing the growth of hi-res digital.

Also, just as most people were content to play vinyl on their integrated Panasonic radios/turntables in the past, and cds on $150 cd players, they would also be content playing DVD-A on their dvd players. It's the audiophiles that would have to go out and buy the DVD-A players to extract the full benefit of the format. The point is one disc, we don't need two competing formats for digital audio. Elizabeth is partially correct in saying competing formats KILL any chances of one or the other becomming mainstream. Betamax didn't kill VHS, it just made it take longer to become the standard and resulted in lots of people buying betamax players that became obsolete once Sony gave up the fight.

As far as cd being dead, no, not yet, just look at the numbers. For most people it's still the only game in town.