Will Microsoft kill DVD-A and SACD?

I hadn't known, but do find it curious, that MS would invest in HDCD. After all, it's certainly not the future of music data storage (neither is CD in general), most current hardware doesn't decode it, and the percentage of software manufactured using it is miniscule. There has to be some unseen-by-me (though I readily admit to not being an expert - or really caring - about such matters) motive for such an inexplicable aquisition. Or maybe Bill just likes the way they sound in his system. But kill DVD-A and SACD? HDCD can't do multi-channel. What could sink those formats is if people don't care about surround music, but not HDCD.

I have regular CDs that are in surround. Why shouldn't HDCD be able to have surround?

Hi everybody,
me too, I've never understood why Microsoft bought a couple of months ago HDCD licensing. I see nothing in common between computers and music licensing except if
Microsoft would have wanted that the CD players installed on the PC should be able to decode HDCD : was is the advantage ? don't know....

about HDCD itself : I own two 'reference recordings' CD's that are sampler CD with HDCD and non HDCD tracks. The difficulty to compare the same track in HDCD vs non-HDCD mode is not easy, just because the HDCD track has a higher output level (+3dB), and just because of that, you have the impression that you hear more things. Frankly, I don't find a huge difference with HDCD.

HDCD is an improvment, for sure, but now we have other solutions like upsampling or oversampling DAC which are IMHO far better than the HDCD technology itself (and these DAC don't require any licensing !!!)

Hey, maybe the first time a CD is inserted we will have to "Agree to the terms...." and find that we only leased the music....and, when the disc identifies your player it will not play in another machine and report this finding to M$.

Go Linux, go.

Happy listening,
Patrick

Zaikes,

There is such a thing as multi-channel HDCD. My business neighbor is a post production recording studio. When I first purchased my Sim Audio Eclipse with HDCD the engineer was surprised, and wondered why it had HDCD but wasn't multi-channel.

I haven't seen nor heard of any HDCD multi-channel recordings myself, but that doesn't mean they don't exist or as others suggest - can't be made.

As for the MS purchase of HDCD, it must have a catch. Maybe MS wanted the PMD digital filter to launch some proprietary copy protection. There are a lot of companies who've been trying (one way or another) to skin that cat. Microsoft might believe they have a new wrinkle.

As for the SACD DVD-A formats, there are even better formats in existence (that use similar recording techniques to SACD). Various recording studios (engineers) are trying to sell these to the big boys. ...But there's too much investment in the current formats (and constant infighting amongst the various 'players') - All vying for control.

I, like most of you am very mistrusting of MS, and if the purchase of HDCD leads to lower-tech & lesser sound then they ought to be strung up by the nads.