Are music servers the future?

I'd guess that servers are the future but I've been hearing that for quite a while now and progress towards that future seems very slow.

Sony, one of the three major music groups, has their first servers out now and promises lots of high res downloads. Sony says the other two majors, Universal and Warner, are on board too. So maybe things will start happening soon. I hope so.

Tomcy6, Sony's decision to convert all it master tapes to quad DSD is certainly added emphasis. The new unit I have comes from Empirical Audio Legacy. My previous unit fooled Itunes into thinking it was runninng the music but it was only to use their organization. It ran in up to 192/24 PCM.

I expect that down loads will be the future also and that at some point you will be able to buy quad DSDs which will be mastertapes.

Music servers are now, not in the future. Check out the Antipodes. Beats even a tweaked-out ac Mini, which I have had for years.

DSD is another thing. I believe its a flash in the pan like SACD. Most high-end DAC designers don't like it but they are offering it to satisfy the customers. I will be too. PCM beats it if the digital filtering is done right IME. Mostly not done right.

Steve N.
Empirical Audio

Audioengr, I had not heard of the Antipodes. Maybe I'll get a chance to hear one.

Getting rid of the switching ps on the Mac is necessary as is dependence on Itunes.

I think SONY's going with quad DSD for their mastertapes, all but assures DSD is the future. I have compared double DSD with 192/24 PCM and somewhat prefer double DSD, but 44.1/16 is a real loser realitive to double DSD and especially if compared with a hybrid SACD to 44.1/16 versus DSD and both bumped to double DSD.

Personally I think Hi Def Streaming Audio is the future. Ultimate convenience AND quality. If you don't think they can deliver high def music via streaming in the near future - just consider that they already deliver both hi def audio AND video in the same stream with movies to perfection.