"normanstrong" wrote in message
...
"langvid" wrote in message
news:SnCPb.119251$na.113548@attbi_s04...
If SACD survives as a high-end format, such as the limited
distributed
high-end gear that many of us on this forum include in our audio
systems I
will be extremely happy. I could care less if there is mass-market
penetration in the Circuit City or Wal Mart crowd. Although, I
realize that
the reality may be that you canÂ't have one without the other.

But let's look at another angle. Forget about DVD-A and SACD for a
moment.
The article you shared as well as *many* other articles suggest that
*CD*
may be going down in flames. *CD* is in trouble. And for many
reasons. While
it is a testament to the genius of Philips/Sony who masterminded the
CD in
the first place, what other late '70s digital technology is around
in 2004?
And given that SACD and DVD-A have so much more to offer than CD,
without
giving up anything (especially SACD which is backward compatible),
is there
really any reason for CD to exist? Seriously.


If the "war" depends on people like me to embrace either format, the
way is over and both sides lost. I will never buy either SACD or
DVD-A or the equipment to play them.

As I said before *never* sounds irrevocably final. And whether or not
you ever embrace hi-rez may be a bit more complex than merely saying
you never will. At some point you may go out to buy a CD and find that
it is only available as a hybrid SACD (with multi-channel no less). But
it costs no more, it will play on your CD player. No loss to you. Or you
may find that the CD player with the features that you want most is
also is also a SACD player. So you buy it. It's like the time I
purchased a car that had a cassette player. I did not want the
cassette player (and some other features the car had). But if I wanted
that model I had to get the cassette player). Or more germane, there
were mono stalwarts who said they would *never* buy into stereo. But
at some point they *had* to. In a year are so you may be hard
pressed to buy a DVD player that is not also a DVD-A player or a
SACD player or both. You may be drawn in fighting and kicking but
you may be drawn in nonetheless. Of course, I know a couple of people
that swore that they would *never* buy into CD....
and they stuck to their guns to this day.

Is the *CD* in trouble? With
whom? From my consumer point of view, I can't think of any problem
with CD that will be solved by the high-rez formats.

Agreed.

If CD is in
trouble it's with the industry, not the consumer.

It's probably a little of both. CD sales have been in a tailspin
that goes beyond the recessionary economy. Consumer piracy, downloading,
MP3, whatever, has contributed to the downslide. The industry is looking to
stem the bleeding with the hi-rez formats that offer *everything* CD
offers, but much more. I have personally found it to be great deal.

I'll repeat what I posted a while ago: Proving the superiority of
high-rez is much more difficult than proving the inferiority of
16/44.1K. And so far nobody's done even that.

There is no question that hi-rez *is* vastly superior and in ways that
don't have to be proven, such as greater capacity, far greater music
realism potential(multi-channel), video capability, greater anti piracy
protection (artist issue), etc. Again the sound issue is moot.
Sound has *nothing* (or very little)to do with it, certainly nothing
to do with what will determine the ultimate fate of hi-rez. There is
really nothing to prove or certainly nothing worth the time and
money to prove. That (sound) rests with the ear and judgment of the
listener, as it should be, in my opinion.

Norm Strong


Robert C. Lang
Lang Video Art
www.langvideoart.com
510-834-7550
510-834-7554 fax