the SHM CD Experience

I don't think anyone thought shm-cd's were remastered. since sacd is tanking(not because they're not good, but because the hardware isn't selling), the emphasis on manufacturing(which has been known to have an effect positive or negative on cd or dvd quality) is now an option for those with redbook players. I just received some japanese van morrison and rolling stones cd's from japan and they play as fine as my original lp pressings. since the compact disc was originally intended for mass consumption, it has always been limited by the cost of manufacturing(about 50 cents). using more expensive materials does improve the sound. as far as remastering, improvements on still on a title by title basis. todays vinyl revival is still(in many cases)relying on masters that are a decade or more old, and many of the sources are digital. Here too, the manufacturing makes a lot of difference. In order for sacd to be commercially viable(given the production expense), it has to sell well over a threshold thats just not there today for most titles. think of blue spec and shm as 'plan b'. tiny runs for those who covet their cd collections, and want the final word for the format quality wise. sort of a 'festivus for the rest of us'

SACD hardware isn't selling? Today almost every player has SACD playback, Denon, Marantz, Pioneer, Esoteric, Luxman, Mark Levinson, Yamaha, Sony, Playback designs, McIntosh etc. all are SACD/CD players, IMHO SACDs are not so popular because only audiophiles know why DSD is better than 16/44k CD and audiophiles are a niche

Personally I'm not buying red book CDs any more, maybe occasionally used CDs from ebay if they are extremely cheap but not new CDs, I hope that RBCD format will finally die this year as many people predict... and we finally get the high resolution music, whether it'll be SACD or Blu Ray Audio, or hi-rez downloads, but RBCDs? No, thank you even if they have super clear plastic they are still 16/44kHz, even if their pits and lands are burned with laboratory precision they are still 16bit redbook CDs. So what I can listen to 0,03% more bits or 1% more bits due to blu-spec CD when I have 400% more bits (information) on SACD or FLAC 24bit/96kHz recording

RBCD is not going to die this year or any time soon -- it will be a long and slow decline. And SACD is not going to become more popular. The best and only real hope for audiophiles is hi-rez downloads, which not only get you higher sampling rates and word lengths than RBCD, but which overcome any and all of the manufacturing shortcomings of mass-produced physical media.

I don't think ALL people will switch to virtual downloads, personally I prefer physical product (with cover, booklet)to downloaded file

BTW CD sales dropped 20% in 2008, so it's definitely not a slow decline, I hope RBCD will die this year, eventually next, and we finally move to high resolution music

I don't hope for any format to die. When a format dies, it forces users of the format to buy new playback equipment even if they're satisfied with what they own.