When is digital going to get the soul of music?

Albertporter - I agree. CD sampling rate of 44kHz is a joke but it has nothing to do with being analog or digital. Imagine fast internet downloads in true 24bits/192kHz (around the corner). Would analog made from this material still be better?
Some people will always say so because they invested tens of thousand of dollars in the dead format and now are in denial. How great of the format it is if you cannot get most of the records you want and you have to settle for what they throw at you. Sure, there is a lot of used records (won't last forever) but what about new exciting artist/releases available only in digital.
According to RIAA total amount of LPs sold in 2007 was 1 million — a joke.

I bet you'll find people who believe that analog TV was better than HDTV calling HDTV too sharp, too bright and lacking the soul.

As for golden ear music teachers — all that I've ever met had horrible audio systems.

Albert,

I agree with your assessment that CD format is the limiting factor, not digital itself.

Still, technology details aside, many CDs do sound better to me than their lp equivalents in practice (and vice versa).

There is no practical winner in all cases. Just because a format has a particular capacity does not mean that it is always fully utilized to best effect. That is the case with both digital and analog recording products. There are good and bad products in any format.

Practically, what matters to me is what my copy of Seventh Sojourn or The Planets actually sounds like, not what the format it is encoded on is capable of doing.

The internet along with high bandwidth connections into the average home along with greater capacity storage devices is already starting to change things considerably, I think.

One thing that concerns me though is why should any company provide an audiophile affordable high quality digital sources similar to records when we're willing to shell out
tens of thousands apparently in order to get it? That doesn't make sense to me and does worry me actually quite a bit.

Albertporter - I agree. CD sampling rate of 44kHz is a joke but it has nothing to do with being analog or digital. Imagine fast internet downloads in true 24bits/192kHz (around the corner). Would analog made from this material still be better?

You're missing the point completely. Did you read what I wrote or just want to argue for digital? You appear to be a person without much experience that's angry someone would challenge your vision of the perfect sound forever BS they threw at us.

As for would 24bits/192kHz be better as a DIGITAL format, theoretically I would think so. There is no guarantee the record companies won't ruin that too, but I hope not. I'm ready to buy if they fix the problem.

Sure, there is a lot of used records (won't last forever) but what about new exciting artist/releases available only in digital.
According to RIAA total amount of LPs sold in 2007 was 1 million — a joke.

What does that have to do with this topic?

When will digital (CD's) get the soul of music?

No one said CD's were not a sales success, McDonalds is an even bigger success but that does not mean they are the best quality.

I've had a lot of CD players, some retail for more than $20K, there are big differences in quality with the best ones but the player cannot make up for the lack of resolution on current CD format. Of course a really great turntable cannot make up for a crappy LP either.

However, taking the best of each hardware and the best of each software, the LP is the winner when it comes to available formats at best quality.

Mapman - Good question. I don't think they know how to handle it yet. They shot themselfs in the foot keeping high prices and poor recording quality of CDs and sales are down (empty stores). They also loose a lot of money on stuff being illegally copied and are dramatically searching for the new, well copy protected format (SACD, HDCD). Latest, I heard, is CODE pushed by some artist (N. Young, Mellencamp). It is 24bit/96kHz 2 channel recording on DVD media at the price of standard CD. Latest Mellencamp's record was released on CODE (so I heard).

Mapman, you posted while I was composing my response.

I agree that digital could be great and said so in my original post. As for your experience with digital being better in some cases, I have yet to have that happen in my system. There have been hundreds of tests on my system over the years, sometimes involving manufacturers and even other reviewers.

However, I have had master digital files played here and also at a friends home and you have no idea what a digital master is capable of.

Source is everything! You cannot fix the problem downstream no matter how good the other equipment is.