CD format war and resultant music players

I certainly am not going to toss my CDs away either. It's just that all of the current equipment selections, from CD players to preamps, becomes rather pointless until this format war is over. So on one hand, who wants to spend serious money on equipment offering technologies that are obsoleting right in front of your eyes. On the other hand, my personal feeling is that there will be a preferred format for both video and audio combined in less than 5 years. So focusing on just CDs alone is a safe bet with its popularity out there. But that is not a complete picture. I don't want to invest thousands of dollars in CD player and preamps only to find out 3 years from now there exists something else which combines CD with this new but well accepted format. And that something else performs just as well on CDs while obviously showpieces the superior sound of this new audio media format. Given SACD peformance, though being phased out as it is, you just know that the next generation audio media will perform significantly better than redbook CDs.

Basically I just poll and see if anybody out there think there soon be a new audio media, and what choices of media might there be.

There is no longer any need for a new media. Download speeds continue to increase and storage is cheap. The iPod generation is not going to be buying little plastic discs to get their music. Computer based servers and either hard drives or some form of solid state storage is the next generation.

SV:

If you take my comments to the next logical step, purchasing top flight equipment makes total sense. If you know upfront that you will not be replacing your music collection anytime soon, if ever ... all these format wars become moot. You should then purchase the equipment that will allow for as near total enjoyment as possible with your current choice of media. In fact, buy an additional back-up player, if you think that your current choice of media may not survive another twenty years. Given my listening habits, how much time I have available, my declining hearing, saving for retirement, my wife's love for cruises, etc. ... plunking down sizeable cash to get a marginally (and debateable) better version of the Byrds singing "Hey Joe" (multiply this by 2000, btw) is not occurring.

A new format may make sense for new releases ... but you will find that as you get older you are not buying all that much from new artists. Same argument holds for video ... how many copies of the ultimate Godfather collection can one own?

Regards, Rich

what Rar1 said...

The war is over, audiophiles lost. Many have been killed but most have been taken prisoner by insane prices.