more major players jumping on the sacd bandwagon

In case anyone is not aware the Betamax reference refers to Sony introducing superior technology to JVC (VHS) and then being too greedy to share (license) it to competitors. ...So greedy it cost them the mass market. ...Yes! Beta was and still is used for high quality video production, but it has always been (to use an audiophile familiar term) "down sampled" to lower res. media. ...Apple did the same thing with their MAC & OS... Wouldn't license it and lost out on years of mass market $ -why most businesses (save graphic design) use PC's.

It really doesn't matter whether Sony convinces ALL of the recording companies to buy-in or not. ...It takes the public to perceive a need. ...And right now they've got CD players - old crappy sounding one's with harsh DAC's, and they are blissful in their ignorance.

Now if you talk DVD... people ARE buying these... Replacing their old VHS's as they wear out. ...But most (all?) of these players won't/can't record, and the media isn't reusable. ...So it's got to be harder to sell than a VCR was.

What else are people doing? ...Listening to Mp3 and similar low-res formats… again blissful in ignorance. ...Some folks are even buying players for this software - despite exorbitant costs/lack of options. …Motivated by portability and what is logically the REAL evolution of the digital format. YES! MP3 sounds like crap... but the audio/production industry doesn't control software developers. ...And computer companies have access to the same parts that the audio industry uses. Texas instruments IS Burr-brown after all. ...How long will it be before this type of format comes calling on the heels of all of the disc related technologies?

As for DVD... While there's no music available for DVD-A at least the equipment manufacturers are selling DVD players. ...If they WERE making DVD/-A/CD players they would sell - regardless of DVD-A software availability. ...Maybe THIS would bring about a need for software...? …But will the recording industry jump into a media that has already been compromised by pirating? …THIS friends will be the hard-sell for DVD-A… Not sound quality! …Do you really think they care about sound quality like any of us do? …Certainly, the shareholders of these stocks -as a whole- do not. …Not while in a slumping technology market. ...Profitability is rarely, if ever found by pursuing the few.

I would pose the argument that the ONLY reason SACD is being embraced is because of its security & the (current) difficulty of duplicating it. THIS may be its saving grace - if any. ...But this still doesn't change things. ...Where's that ever-important NEED?

Unless Sony/Phillips/competitors can "play nice" together both formats may die. …And we'll have to hope that MP3 or similar improves. YIKES!

...So I'd say buy em now (SACD's) like you'd buy any collectable music. If you can afford a player that plays SACD then ENJOY whatever titles you can find. ...But don't hope for this format to catch on. …Not unless they start making all-in-one machines DVD/-A/CD/SACD. ...Then we might be getting somewhere. ...But then they’d stop selling CD players… :-)

Since SACD is supposed to be a superior technology, will a good SACD disc played on one of the newer entry (cheap) $300 - $400 players from Sony sound better than a comparable regular CD played on a high-end upsampling CD player?

thank you for all the responses thus far. here's another query based upon them: is it REALLY necessary to have all-in-one machines that play dvd-a, particularly if sacd machines are "backward compatible" to redbook cd's? put another way: why does it matter that lots of folks are replacing their vhs players with dvd players if they are not apparently replacing them for their redbook cd players. too? -kelly

Sample MP3 at higher than 128kbps and the sound is not bad. I consider myself to be an audiophile but I also keep an open mind to good technology. Are you saying MP3 is crap because this is what you've read or have you seriously played with MP3 and experimented beyond the typical default settings with various encoders?

Kelly, your point is too logical. The fact is that SACD machines I've heard playing standard "redbook" cd's sound better than there standard counterpart at the same cost. Add to that that you can play CD-R, DVD video and it seems to me you have a good reason to buy one. The added bonus is SACD, but even if you never played a single SACD disk on it, the flexability of multiple format and added sound quality is worth the upgrade. I feel that those who are resisting the SACD format are falling into two groups. One that comprises those who resist any change and the larger being those who don't understand the benifits even when SACD is taken out of the equation. For those who continue to use the software as the reason to resist, please try to remember the beginings of cassette tapes and cd's. Yes the same tales of failure were spoken then. Five years from now we'll pull up this and other threads and simply shake our heads in dis-belief. This is and will happen, Sony will not lose the billions in cd royalty without a major fight.