"Rusty Boudreaux" wrote in message
...

Currently that's true. However, once the following takes place I
bet the vast majority of consumers will choose multichannel over
stereo.

1. End of format war.
2. Mass availability
3. Backward compatible (old car players for example)

Since you're talking about the "vast majority of consumers" there
really is no format war. SACD and DVD-A are not even on the radar of
the majority of consumers--nor would they be if one format was gone.
The format war is ended and the winner is Dolby Digital. An ordinary
CD will hold over 3 hours of DD surround sound. If it could be played
on an ordinary DVD player, the consumer would love it.

So why isn't DD sweeping the field? My guess is that the industry
hasn't yet figured out a good way to limit the amount of time
available in that format. SACD and DVD-A solve the time problem, but
have not been embraced by the public. If you stop to think about it
there is no technical reason why DD surround sound audio couldn't be
distributed via an ordinary DVD. With no video to contend with a DVD
could carry as much as 20 hours of music. It would be available to
anyone with a DVD player, and entirely satisfactory to 99% of them.
Therein is the problem: too much time. The race to fill it would be
on, and the RIAA would be the loser.

Cheers, and Happy New Year,

Norm Strong