When is digital going to get the soul of music?

take care of your records, and your records will take care of you.

the last decade has brought about 'serious' advances in the remastering and manufacturing of the compact disc. the reality on the hardware side is that (unfortunately)the players(at any price) cannot perform miracles with the thousands of poorly made discs that are out there. the cosmetics and the exotic materials that we audiophiles love have pushed the envelope and the price on the hardware side into the abyss. many of the early players are nearly as refined(soundwise) as many of the 5-figured 'newer' front ends, when used with more recent cd production efforts. to this day, any workhorse turntable with a decent arm and cartridge will push more emotion through a stereo system than any digital front-end. our want for something more from our cd's will always be the subject of debate, and the money 'down-the-drain' in search for hardware, will find many of us running in circles for a few more years, anyway.

digital arrived last night around 1am at the bus station in tucson, and was promptly picked up by the soul of music.

albert, i'm sure digital will be back for 'the sequel'.

multi layered discs do cost more to manufacture than single layered.

the cost of replication does not cover the publising per unit, the cost of producing the record or cd in the first place (amortized),the artists' royalty per unit, the musicians' royalties per unit, sync rights per unit if dvd, marketing, distribution, healthcare for artists and employees, freight, sometimes tarrifs, and ultimately, the put-upon retailer must make something.....you simply have to do the math, in any region, in any country...these are intellectual properties, not bubble gum....a tragic crime in any country.

actually dual layers are nearly twice as much to manufacture. cd's, sacd's and dvd's contain royalty payments to artists, publishing royalties, marketing costs, e&o insurance, and numerous other guild payments....i'm sorry, but a 2 dollar dvd sold in china or anywhere is a pirated copy, unless its a cut-out and the royalties were already paid. sometimes cover art and/or an artista likeness needs to be licensed as well.