Is there a future for Redbook players?

I beg to disagree. There is NO future planned (i.e. in the corporate business /marketing plans) for redbook ONLY players.

As to players ALSO playing redbook, no doubt. And they'll be getting better & better, and cheaper & cheaper.

So, if financial considerations prime, think of what a modded Sony or Phillips or whatever (SACD/DVD-V/cd) player might do for you.

DVD-A and SACD will not be the death of redbook. These formats are only appriciated by a small community. It's going to take a format that is embraced by the mainstream buyer to kill redbook. If it were not for the legal crackdown, MP3 would be the most likely candidate. Redbook will die when the record companies come up with a secure compressed format that can be downloaded via internet, or over the air (XM, cell phone, etc). Within 10 yrs your entire music collection will be on a credit card sized device that you will carry with you in your wallet. Something like that would kill redbook.

But then again what do I know....

I recall that CD was once a passing fad that would never overtake vinyl since vinyl software had saturated the market and so few titles were available on CD. Times certainly have changed. Essentially, redbook is already dead in the mass marketplace. Try to find a CD playback unit only -- not a portable -- at Best Buy or Circuit City. It does not exist.

try to find anything that accepts a 5" disk that does not play redbook...

future yes

I have a mid priced dvd-a player and a high end redbook

the redbook upsamples to 24/192 and beats the dvd-a

why would I want to buy more dvd-a's

manufacturers like Audio Research skipped the multi media player format

tom