CD...then the SACD...all over again


Look, I'm one of the biggest defenders of SACD around. I own a lot of SACDs, I try to defend the format against attacks whenever possible, and I keep up to date on new high resolution releases.

But even I can hit a breaking point. I'm SO tired of buying a Patricia Barber CD...only to have the SACD come out 6 months later (roughly). Then I get the hi-res version. Then it happens again with her next release. And her next one.

Before you know it, I've spent 40 bucks to get her SACD ($25 for that disc, plus the $15 I laid down for the Redbook version).

In a perfect world, there would be one release: a Mobile Fidelity hybrid SACD. Barring that, AT LEAST the hi- and lo-res versions could come out simultaneously.

When they're starting to alienate even me, you *know* there's a serious problem!
thedautch
Brianmgrarcom, Viridian, and Thedautch. You present such an opportunity to be an equal opportunity asshole...IMHO, if your wanted to hear a REAL jazz singer, not some wanta be, you'd listen more to Shirly Horn. :-) :-) Oh crap, I forgot, she's probably not recorded in the SACD format. Sorry...........
That kind of stuff (i.e., different relese times, cost differences) has lead me to abandon SACD. I have sold all my single layer SACD discs, my SACD player, and have never looked back.

SACD was great. It got me into jazz music. In the end, though, I found a good redbook version of most CD's were not that far behind the SACD version (and many were just as good).

And now that I have tranferred all my music to a computer based music server, I find my priorities changing dramatically.
Newbee: I *do* listen to Shirley Horn, actually. And many other very good (or great) jazz artists.

I just think that Diana Krall, with her Nixon-esque ham-handed piano playing and inability to interpret lyrics or read ANY insight into a song's meaning, is at the absolute bottom of the heap.
Newbee...I intended to comment about both being overpriced, not the difference. I suppose that a Hybrid SACD, with two layers, is harder to make, and would logically cost a bit more. Manufacture of a CD costs, I've read, less than a buck, and most artists get less than that after "studio rental" and similar charges are deducted. If recording labels priced their product more reasonably they would not have to fight over people going to all the trouble to make copies. I have paid about $30 for some of my classical DVDA from Europe, and because of the low volume of such recordings that is probably OK. But I pity the poor guy who buys pop issues.
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