Too snobbish for SACD as it exists?

I never really though about the brand names, but I did see some photos of 9000ES players on Ebay a month or so ago that had champagne finished cabinets (instead of black) and feel that my market is getting the shaft in the looks department. The ads stated that this finish was only offered on the Asian market for this model.

9000es finish is gorgeous in black laquer! The sound? Well its only Sony. When I will win lottery I will buy Accuphase for $28 or car or something. I will offer my take on the situation. Many people simply happy with RedBook and have inertia to move to DSD technology. I see it with many of my friends. The biggest problem you cannot desribe Mona Lisa, one has to see it. Solution I see in old fachion American culture: advertisment. When time will be right (I hope) Sony will flood TV with ads: apple pie and SACD or whatever.
Cheers, Simon

Jmslaw, I brought this up on another thread and I do believe it a factor. But I think that a bigger reason that SACD has not been as successful as hoped lies in the software. Sony continues to try to dominate the software market for SACD and it seems like it is hurting them in the hardware end. I think they nedd to flood the market with software at prices that can compete better with the redbook cd. In doing this they would reach more people, creating a bigger pond, if you will. I think, maybe they don't do this because now they control the software and the hardware, and they fear if SACD becomes as popular/affordable as redbook they can no longer dominate the market. If the software becomes more prevelent you will see more high end companies jumping in the pond. I think right now the high end manufacturers are playing safe, like many consumers, maybe afraid to bet on a format that is not yet established. Software is the key, IMO.

Did Sony do something like this with Beta? I know they tried to control something hardware or software and it bit them in the butt. Apple made the same mistake with it's source code. MS opened it up and crushed despite the fact that Apple was in many ways suppior at the time. Sony should learn from it's own mistakes.

I went into a highend store in Wilmtington De the other day and wanted just to here a SACD player and I was brow beaten to the point were I backed out of the store. I asked about Sony and they scoffed. They dropped names like Accuphase and DCS. They then proceded to bath me in digital jumble mumble. I think high end is not ready for a $1000 Sony DVP-9000 or SCD-777es sound better than there 20K DCS system. Perhaps its growing pains.

Nealb, I believe you are correct, I'm not positive but I do believe I heard Sony tried to control the Beta software market. You'd think you'd learn from your mistakes. But the question is: Is total short term market domination more profitable than the long term not dominating the market? You know how business is, make the buck today don't worry about tomorrow. Sony is probably making a killing by dominating the market, they don't really care about the long term future of SACD anymore than they did about Beta. Make a killing now, and our R&D will come out with another format so we can dominate another market. Sony is too smart to not learn from their mistakes, so that tells me Beta was no mistake. They dominated a market for several years and made a killing.