SACD - Dying already?

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.

Even the profusion of cheap universal players has not sparked an increased interest among the general population for hi-rez formats. Even among audiophiles the most excitement recently has been around the 2 channel 3950/3960. If the hi-rez formats have not already taken off after years of exposure it's unlikely they ever will. SACD may remain around as an audiophile format for things like classical music. But I agree that computer-based systems are more likely to take off in time.

I think Sony came up with SACD to get back money lost when CD royalties ended 2-3 years ago. There is also a concept in business which says "keep the pot boiling" which means keep talk, action, stuff going on - it will spark interest and keep customers occupied which makes it eaiser for them to spend. You always want potential customers coming in and out of your store/business and activity is the best way to do it sometimes. SACD advertising, articles in newspapers, etc., and some word of mouth was supposed to get this actiicty going - looks like it didn't work.

And what's this stuff about "local record stores"? I can just see someone sitting in a half darkened room with the glow of a computer screen shining on their face, eyes glazed and fingers flicking away. Get out and see the world every once in a while, for God's sake! I have actually met people at record stores who have become friends, even met a great girlfriend there once (long before I was married!). Ever hear of socialization?