Well, they have to do something and hybrid "trojans" might help the numbers. As much as SACD (or DVD-A) shine when critical listening is involved, the real critical part is market share & profit. Walk into a Tower Rcds or whatever, check out the # of CDs displayed vs SACD/DVD-A, and no matter how much any of us appreciate MC audio - if they ain't movin' the numbers then sumpthin's gotta give. With overall RIAA sales tanking (due more to content offering & quality than copying, in my $.02) you'd think that anything that boosts actual sales would be good. That's probably what leads them to think that hybrids are good, 'cause who copies SACDs? Bottom line is that pure SACDs are a tiny tiny part of the overall CD sales, so anything that makes them more likely to sell will be used.
SACD hybrids bad policy from Sony/Columbia?
Just read today that the whole collection of Bob Dylan remasters that were done last year on SACD hybrid are due to be released on CD soon at a much lower price.
To me this defeat the Trojan Horse policy of sneeking SACD's into households where there is no SACD player and maybe encouraging a SACD player purchase at a later date based on the knowledge that the buyer already has SACD's in his collection.
Furthermore when future SACD hybrids come on sale perhaps buyers may now hang off to see if what happened with the Dylan releases is repeated.
Indeed those who wanted the set and are a few short and have no SACD player will be able to but 3 CD remasters for the price of 2 Hybrids.
In terms of marketing SACD I think this a major mistake.
To me this defeat the Trojan Horse policy of sneeking SACD's into households where there is no SACD player and maybe encouraging a SACD player purchase at a later date based on the knowledge that the buyer already has SACD's in his collection.
Furthermore when future SACD hybrids come on sale perhaps buyers may now hang off to see if what happened with the Dylan releases is repeated.
Indeed those who wanted the set and are a few short and have no SACD player will be able to but 3 CD remasters for the price of 2 Hybrids.
In terms of marketing SACD I think this a major mistake.