Does anyone know of the existence, or perhaps the planning, of "Universal"
players, that will play CDs, CDRs, CDRWs, SACDs, and DVD-As, but not DVD
Video?

It seems to me that a "Universal" player as I described above would be much
simpler, and less expensive, to build than one that also incorporates
DVD-Video, and at least I for one, and I would think many other music
enthusiasts, really have no interest in combining Video with High-Fidelity
audio systems.