Another sign SACD is dying

Why wait when there're now over 3,500 SACD titles available? BTW, John Mayer's "Room For Squares" SACD is very good.

My point was that records are still being used widely by audiophiles but you won't find them at Curcuit City or Best Buy. So, because they may not carry something anymore doesn't mean that it won't exist in the audiophile market anymore.

So, a salesperson at Curcuit City making a comment about SACD doesn't make a good argument that it will not be available.

I haven't taken the time to wade through all this animus, but when companies like dcs continue to make new SACD and have plans to release another next year, can the future really be soo bleak?

All that can be said of Circuit City and Best Buy is that they are barometers of what the mass market is buying.

Like it or not, Joe and Jane Normal aren't going to pay $30 for what they are told is a "better" CD. Their desire is for a handheld device that can hold 4000 CD's, and the audio quality is almost entirely irrelevant to them.

Really, the only surefire omen that SACD is doomed is that it is Sony's baby, and Sony has a long and proud history of dropping the ball. ;) Although, in all fairness, DVD-A is a pretty big non-event to the general public as well.

On the other hand, there are many small specialty labels, such as Channel Classics in Holland, that have dived into SACD with both feet, and are doing great work, not to mention bigger labels like Telarc and Deutsche Gramophon who are pressing in CD, SACD, and DVD-A. It doesn't hurt to cover your bases, for sure.

I guess the feeling I got when I left CC was that if it was going so well, they would continue to carry players, etc., regardless of it being highend or just midfi. I also went to the only local highend dealer in town and the salesclerk basically told me the same thing, that it just wasn't doing well. That doesn't mean that it's dead, but will probably just be a niche market. I think a lot people felt like me, that they were being pulled in 2 different directions without a clear path. It wasn't really the machines as much as the software. I would like to see a better format survive, but I also just want to go into any store in town and buy CD's for my player, not have to special order them. I walked into Sam Goody's approx. a year ago and the manager had never even heard of SACD's. (They may have them now, I haven't been there since) A universal machine just didn't appeal to me either, possible because there could be glitches about playing certain discs, etc.