[electricbear]

It appears that sometime in the next couple of weeks Sony will announce to the public that it is pulling the plug on SACD. They will no longer make players, discs or license the technology to anyone else. These were rumours that were substanciated by an industry insider last night.  

[G]

It appears that sometime in the next couple of weeks Sony will announce to the public that it is pulling the plug on SACD. They will no longer make players, discs or license the technology to anyone else. These were rumours that were substanciated by an industry insider last night.  

Hi Bear. Is there a competing standard to SACD? If so this may be a blessing in disguise. Maybe we will have one industry wide standard now instead of the VHS/Betamax rehash we have been having over the last few years.

G

[F-100]

If this rumor is true then it will be a sad day because SACD is a great format.

Just my .02 by the way

[jpsartre]

Even if it's discontinued, having the entire Miles Davis and Bob Dylan catalogs (not to mention Pink Floyd DSOTM) on hi-rez made it worthwhile IMO.

[electricbear]

I would personally love for the information I received to be baseless as I am fond of the sacd sound . Unfortunately sony had several years to make sacd a viable format yet failed to do so. If every disc that they released was dual format it would encourage people to replace their old cd players with new sacd units. This industry was created by music lovers for music lovers and it is a crying shame that when the opportunity to increase the quality is available that we don't embrace it with both hands. Instead we do just the opposite. We try to fit more and more music into smaller and smaller packages using ungodly means of compression. Although sony may be viewed by many as a pariah in the industry, we ultimately have only ourselves to blame. The only way that we as the music lover can ensure to have access to good quality recordings is to go out and buy them . Forget burning your buddies discs, forget the mp3s , if you don't buy the real thing the industry will stop producing the real thing.Show the industry that there is a demand and they will provide the product, remove the demand and they will remove the product. You lose, I lose.

[TheChairGuy]

Interesting.

I happened to have met, and still correspond occassionally with the Director of Sales and Operations at Sony Music (met him at a trade show a few years ago) down in Carrollton, GA

Apparently Sony's distribution center is the old Columbia House center...Sony bought those guys years back.

I'll ask him about the SACD rumors...I'll let ya' know.

[steve k]

This is sad news indeed because I still think SACD is far superior to DVD Audio in quality. It's even sadder that they're not licensing the technology to anyone else. Where does this leave all the other SACD player manufacturers and all the SACD plants that were just opened in the last few years? Surely Sony could cash in their chips and let someone else continue the game. Doesn't Phillips have a stake in the original concept too?

I thought SACD was finally becoming the accepted format. Is Sony really hurting that bad?

I must admit I've heard rumors about this but I'm really surprised Sony would pull the plug on something they have so much money invested in. It's not their style.

Sad news indeed.
steve

[doug s.]

I would personally love for the information I received to be baseless as I am fond of the sacd sound . Unfortunately sony had several years to make sacd a viable format yet failed to do so. If every disc that they released was dual format it would encourage people to replace their old cd players with new sacd units.

sorta - the *only* way any new format will survive is if *all* the software industry agrees to make *all* releases in the new format, & then phase out production of the old format.

This industry was created by music lovers for music lovers and it is a crying shame that when the opportunity to increase the quality is available that we don't embrace it with both hands.

WRONG!!!  This industry is about MAKING MONEY!!!

Instead we do just the opposite. We try to fit more and more music into smaller and smaller packages using ungodly means of compression. Although sony may be viewed by many as a pariah in the industry, we ultimately have only ourselves to blame.

WRONG AGAIN!!!  See above.  "ourselves" is yust a lunatic fringe of the music industry.  always has been, always will be.

The only way that we as the music lover can ensure to have access to good quality recordings is to go out and buy them . Forget burning your buddies discs, forget the mp3s , if you don't buy the real thing the industry will stop producing the real thing.Show the industry that there is a demand and they will provide the product, remove the demand and they will remove the product. You lose, I lose.

WRONG THREE TIMES!!!  see above.  if all us lunatic fringe "music lovers" went out & bought as many sacd's as we could stomach (considering the extreme lack of software selections), stopped burning discs/mp3's/etc, it wouldn't even register a blip on the industry sales charts.

it ain't up to us audiophools, it's up to the software industry to do the right thing.  how likely is that?  this is the same group that brought us "perfect sound forever", which after 20 years is only now starting to get close to winyl...

doug s.

[doug s.]

...I must admit I've heard rumors about this but I'm really surprised Sony would pull the plug on something they have so much money invested in. It's not their style...

where were you when sony pulled the plug on beta?  beta is so much better than vhs, it ain't even funny.  it's still used in the pro industry.  this is *EXACTLY* sony's style.

doug s.

[MaxCast]

beta vs. VHS, VHS wins
SACD vs. CD, CD wins
beta and SACD are better formats but lost.

looks like Sony is trying to do the right thing, but consumers don't care about the quality of a format.  pretty good is good enough.

[doug s.]

...looks like Sony is trying to do the right thing, but consumers don't care about the quality of a format.  pretty good is good enough.

it's not up to the consumers to make a new format work - it is up to the software mfr's.  cd never woulda taken a foothold over winyl if the mfr's dint shove it down the consumers throats.  the mfr's did it cuz it was in their financial interest.  the cost to mfr a cd vs a winyl album is pennies on the dollar.  and, the mfr's could get away with actually charging *more* for them!?!  there is no such incentive for the mfr's to switch to sacd or dvd-a over redbook cd.  the mfr's must take the initiative if they wanna do it for sound quality.  yure right; 99% of the listening public doesn't give a damn about the sound quality.

doug s.

[jackman]

Unfortunately, I believe Doug is right.  I'm not saying it's unfortunate that he is right (hehe), but it's unfortunate that most people could care less about good sound.  

Wouldn't it be funny if a company like, say, Blose would come out with their own format...one that would remove the highs and lows from all musical content and negate any advantages other speakers would have over those little paper coned jobbies with the huge hole in the midrange frequency response and no output above 8K!

[MaxCast]

I agree and said consumers don't care about the quality.
I agree on the mfg costs of cd and vinyl.
But, consumers decide the success of a format.
What is interesting is CD had sooo many other advangages over vinyl and cassette plus hurdles to jump =  rebuy software requirements, new machines to buy....just like DVD.  Consumers liked the format, convenience it provided and thus bought new software AND machines.

Try going back to vinyl.  Even if you stopped making CD, mp3, etc and only offered vinyl the sales of software would plumit.

[doug s.]

I agree and said consumers don't care about the quality.
I agree on the mfg costs of cd and vinyl.
But, consumers decide the success of a format.
What is interesting is CD had sooo many other advangages over vinyl and cassette plus hurdles to jump =  rebuy software requirements, new machines to buy....just like DVD.  Consumers liked the format, convenience it provided and thus bought new software AND machines.

Try going back to vinyl.  Even if you stopped making CD, mp3, etc and only offered vinyl the sales of software would plumit.

max, everything you say is true.  *BUT* cd succeeded because the software mfr's rammed the software down comsumers' throats.  it was what they forced the record stores to carry & sell.  and, they slowly but surely stopped making winyl.  

it's not that the consumer liked the conwenience of cd initially:   due to the cost of the software - double that of winyl - it actually took the average consumer quite a while to make the switch.  and, cuz the average consumer *doesn't* care about sound quality - most consumers thought cd sounded *better* than winyl, which likely was true on the cheap rackmount stereos they used - the software mfr's were successful in getting consumers to switch to cd from winyl.  now that it's here, yure certainly correct that it would be difficult to get the consumer to go back.  even a lot of audiophiles who think winyl sounds better, listen primarily to cd cuz of the conwenience.

but, since the average consumer does not care about the sound adwantage of sacd or dvd-a over redbook cd, it would take the mfr's to force the change.  and, it would take no time at all for the consumers to hop on the bandwagon, if the mfr's made a concerted effort, as they initially did w/cd.  but, the mfr's will do so only for economic incentives, not for pushing the s.o.t.a. of sound quality.  

if the same economic incentives existed for mfr's to produce sacd/dvd-a instead of redbook cd's, that initially existed when they abandoned winyl over cd, you can be assured that sacd/dvd-a would be in the stores, & that redbook cd's would stop being made, & that the consumer would have no choice in the matter.

doug s.

[JCC]

Cost was part only part of the issue. The consumers, who generally do not care about sound quality, recognized the CD as a superior format. In one aspect – Durability – they were correct. CD’s don’t scratch as easy and Joe consumer loves it compared to vinyl.

With SACD or DVD Audio, there is no compelling reason for the average consumer to buy. Even the surround sound issue, is somewhat mute, because it already exists in DVD Video format. And by the way DVD Video can produce excellent music recordings. Listen to some Classic Records DAD’s and you will be impressed.

Everyone has a DVD player, which will also play CD’s. It’s questionable that either DVD Audio or SACD will survive except as a possible fringe market. The future will belong to a format that works everywhere with increased information and playing time. Then Joe Consumer will buy it.

[WerTicus]

yeah some of the best recordings i have heard were DAD's

[birdwizard]

2 words to describe CD's assimilation into the masses:

CAR STEREO

[stvnharr]

Is this the announcement?

http://www.sa-cd.net/shownews/32

[Mathew_M]

The future of music isn't going to be on a shiney disc at all.   The future lies in music downloading.  You may think that this is a bad thing for quality but I forsee eventually being able to d/l audiophile grade recordings.  If I can d/l high definition video content and watch it on my computer then there is no reason why SACD quality can't be either.

[steve k]

Matthew, I think you're right on this one. The playback equipment may evolve but the software will probably be only available online. That would eliminate all the software production and distrubution costs and limit the music industry's cost to marketing and sales and make online purchasing the only access to the music. Think of the money the recording industry would make then if they still sold music at current CD or SACD prices?
steve k.