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
Guys, I can feel your pain. Bear it with dignity and courage for your will need it. Your future pain will be far greater.

I went through this process with Laser Discs, cursed for ever be its name.

Now, unlike CD vs. SACD, the choice of LD vs. VHS tapes was much easier. LDs were dramatically better and just about all movie titles were available in this superior format. I bought most of the movies that I liked on LDs, many titles in duplicates and triplicates: the standard's CLV version, the special CAV version, the director's cut, not to mention the must-have Criterion Edition. Does that sales tactic sound familiar? And they weren't cheap like SACDs either, about $39 for the standard stuff, $79 for the special stuff, and $129 for the super-duper version. I ended up owning about 1,500 LDs that set me back between $50,000 to $80,000 total!

Then DVDs came out! They were clearly better than LDs in almost every respect! The values of the LDs plummeted. I managed to sell about 700 LDs at about $5-10 each before that fateful day but I am still stuck with eight boxes, about 800 LDs that are worth less than their shipping cost! Now that's pain.

I am older now, not necessarily wiser but definitely slower so I make fewer mistakes. I buy only a few SACDs, the ones that I really like and own only 50 to 75 of them total, if that many. I figure when “they” come out with something far better--and they will--I can toss these SACDs in the trash without too much regret.
The worse is yet to come.

I hear a lot of noise about the new HD DVD formats. Yes folks, formatS with an S. They are supposed to give better picture and sound than DVD and SACD. The two competing camps led by Sony and Toshiba respectively are racing to get their product to the market first. Does this sound familiar? How can they forget so soon that the only two previous successes, the CD and DVD, had no competing formats? And even that is not a guaranty of success--remember the Laser Discs? Now with two competing formats, we are doomed! (I still have a Betamax machine in my storage room. Perhaps I should send it to Sony as a reminder of past mistakes).

One thing is reasonably clear in this murky future. Regardless of which new HD DVD format wins, the regular DVD format may be doomed--I am seriously thinking about selling my DVD movies now before they become obsolete like my LD movies. And the future of the SACD and DVD-A formats is even dimmer still.

It makes you long for the old days when LPs actually increased in value with age.
No one has come up with an answer to my question yet: If everything is moving to embedded hard disks (ipod, etc) which will be downloaded from the internet, then why would blu-ray or any other "disc" format be the next big thing?

Rob
Robm321, You should ask Sony & Toshiba. They are the ones making the decision, not us. I would have brought CD out a couple years later when higher sampling rate was feasible. I also would never have brought out the Laser Disc. But of course, with hindsight...

My guess is that the embedded hard-disk format and the HD DVD format(s) will duke it out and I have no idea who is going to win. But many of us will lose.
I made my choice for the "forseeable future", and it is a hard disc based music server. I have not done anything rash yet, like sell all my CD's, but they are all in the attic now. I live interfacing with my music via iTunes......