Hybrid SACD the new standard?

I heard a rumor that sony laid off a bunch of folks working on the SACD project(s), has anyone else heard anything of this?? if this is the case I think sony feels they have lost enough money on this proposition(regardless of how it sounds) already-it may already be dead-we just don't know about it. I don't care for the potential $23 a disk that's for sure!! ~Tim

Both Sony and Universal and catching flak on the copy protection on redbook cds making them "something other than redbook cds". Now, with one swoop they both dump redbook cd and jump on the copy protected sacd dual layer hybrid. Suddenly copy protection is not on the publics mind unless they look at the competition..ie BMG,etc....hybrid cds take over the old cd price list and "pushes its way into the mass market. Its all about copy protection on cd burners...just my opinion....if the pricing is too high it won't fly....so they'll have to make it attractive somehow....

The packaging on the Hybrids says that they will play on any CD player. Has anyone ever tried to play one on a DVD player? I have a Marantz dv18, but I am not sure that I want to blow $23 on something that won't work. Thanks.

I'm always suspicious of news stories based on interviews that begin with the words, "Psst, buddy!" No single record company is going to stop producing CDs that list for $18 and switch to hybrids that list for $23. They do have to compete, you know.

As long as the market is predominantly CD, the record cos. are going to have to deliver sub-$20 discs. If they can figure out how to make hybrids cheaply enough to make a profit at that price, then they can switch over.

Also, I understand that SACDs are copy-protected, in the sense that you can't get a digital out yet. But that wouldn't affect the CD layer, would it? So how does a hybrid disc solve the copy protection problem?

They'll probably copy protect the cd layer of the daul layer sacd disc. Just my guess....