Sour DOW/NASDAQ to kill digital future?


DO YOU THINK THAT THE PROMISE OF SACD OR DVD AUDIO WILL BE PUT ASIDE IN LIGHT OF THE LAST 12 MONTHS OF ECONOMIC SLOWDOWN HERE IN THE U.S. AND ABROAD. I AM VERY MUCH LOOKING FORWARD TO THE SACD FORMAT. BUT I AM FEELING THAT THIS FORMAT AND OTHERS MAY BE DOA PARTLY BECAUSE OF CERTAIN COMPANIES UNWILLINGNESS TO SPEND MONEY FOR NEW VENTURES IN UNCERTAIN TIMES. WHAT DO YOU THINK?
avnut

Showing 3 responses by tommart

My local high-end dealer thinks that his store's sales should be used as a leading indicator. The store experiences slow down in sales months before anyone realizes there's an economic slowdown. This year, the owner told me that sales came to an abrupt halt in August, 2000.
It might force prices of both hardware and software down, but I do not believe it will hurt the future or development of either format.
SACD has more advantages than just better sound.

1. It has multichannel option. CD's don't.

2. It has a video option. CD's don't. Right now, SACD's don't either, but could.

3. Hybrid discs are downward compatible to CD players. DVD-A is not. Sony even states that the CD layer is superior to normal CDs.

4. Has copy protection. The record companies like this. CDs don't have this.

5. Has copy protection that does not affect the sound. DVD-A can't say the same.

6. Does not require a DVD player and TV to play.

7. About 20 minutes longer play than CDs is possible. One current SACD is 87 minutes long, but futre SACD theoretically could exceed 100 minutes.

8. SACD equipment is far cheaper than buying a TT, cartridge, and pre-preamp. It'll take a $10K setup to get in the ballpark with a $1,500 S9000ES CD/DVD/SACD player.

9. SACD equipment is far cheaper than buying a top notch CD transport and DAC.