Perhaps Microsoft wants to deveolp better sound via PC's or at the very least lending the impression that they care about audio. Or they see license profits now that so many studios are set up for and releasing HDCD. I believe that there is about 6000 titles with more comming with this process. Geting a small piece of a large portion of every CD sold has got to have a decent return. |
Several Microsoft principals are known to be deeply interested in music. When you're as rich as Microsoft, you can buy things just for the fun of it. Maybe they bought it for no better reason than that. |
I argee with Garfish, CD's with or without HDCD are a low density storage medium by today's standards. For multi-channel music storage they are either too limited in resolution or running time to provide a viable high quality medium. I don't have personal experience with the "multi-channel CD's" referred to above, but every CD player I have seen has just a stereo output, meaning any extra-channel info would have to be matrixed into the 2-channel mix and decoded with an outboard device (possibly even in the analog domain), which could not provide anything near even Red Book resolution for all channels, and would presumably be running time-limited to boot. A multi-channel HDCD could hold no more, either. And I don't see how HDCD could be of any help with internet-distributed audio. Just getting the fidelity up to regular CD standards would be a feat, so whatever incremental improvement is supposed to offered by HDCD wouldn't apply here. And since MS is not a record label (yet!), I don't suppose they're going to be releasing HDCD music software themselves. There could not possibly be enough money to made in the current HDCD market to interest the likes of MS, so again, I have to wonder: What's it all about, Billy? |
I can see it now, Bill Gates image on every album cover.......posed, head cocked, listening to an antique record machine.
That old shaded dog "Nipper" will be missed. |
To answer your question (IMO): Microsoft will try to kill or steal anything they can't control. I hope Twl is correct and they won't be able to get it to work -- but that's never slowed them down before. My anticipation is that without an initial corner on the market and without the ready means to corner the market, they won't be able to function since the notion of competition is beyond their experience (let's see if their foray into video games pays off -- we're in trouble if it does). Sorry, but I had to get that off my chest -- for those who've read my posts, you know I rarely fly off the handle, but microsoft invading our passion is cause enough for nightmares. |
As to why MS is interested in HDCD. Might it relate to the long rumored potential sales of music by the record companies directly over the internet. These would likely be compressed and perhaps HDCD will make them more palatable. |
I hope so, then he and Karl Rove can take over the rest of the world and show us how we can all, finally, be happy - just as the Constitution says we should be!! Alas, I just don't think with this Enron/WorldCom inconvenience that we are going to see that anytime soon. Why don't people just leave poor 'lil Bill and the rest of his friends in the corporate aristocracy alone, they only care about you?
Thanks for the belly laugh, Lugnut. |
Zaikeman's and Awdeeofyle posts are well stated and right on,IMO. I'd just add that HDCD is an improved redbook CD format, but it is still 16/44 technology and thus does not have near the potential of either SACD or DVD-A, each of which have several times the storage capacity of a redbook CD. My Levinson 360S DAC does decode HDCD, and while I like it, it's a relatively minor improvement over a "regular" well recorded CD. In fact, I think the best CDs are those done using JVCs XRCD2 system.
Could it be that MS wanted the HDCD technology for some other purpose? Cheers. Craig |
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. |
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 |
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 !!!) |
I have regular CDs that are in surround. Why shouldn't HDCD be able to have surround? |
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 use windows media player with my xp system, and popped in a cd by king chango and saw hdcd appear on the bottom of the window. Does anyone know of any other media players that decode hdcd? |
I fully agree with many of the earlier posts about Microsoft's worthless business practices. It seems to me they have bought into the HDCD technology in part because
software sales have been lagging for some time; and they are
maybe hoping to get some new source of revenue.
Of course, if they price their "new" technology too high
no company will buy it. And that may well prove to be the
case. They are such greedy schmucks! |
y'all hold gates & microsludge arrogance in the same esteem as myself. I'm really extremely sorry to hear that they're involved as surely this spells the death of a great format due to corporate incompetence. Those clowns couldn't build a competent tricycle. |
If it is Microsoft, it will crash. They can't even get their PC operating systems to work right. How in the world will they get something that they don't even know about to work? At least the small audio manufacturers de-bug their software. Microsoft releases their stuff so full of bugs, an anteater couldn't find them all. I can see it now, on my CD player screen: PROGRAM HAS ENCOUNTERED A FATAL ERROR AND WILL BE SHUT DOWN, PRESS ANY KEY TO CONTINUE. All I can say is that I hope they have a convenient re-boot switch. |
Well, if they price it too high, they're more likely to kill of HDCD than anything else. |
Wonder if this technology could result in "Blue Speaker of Death" should the system crash?
By the way Lugnut, I am equal in my admiration of Bill Gates as you. |
As I stated in an earlier post, Krell will no longer add HDCD to their processors because Microsoft raised the price too much for the licensing. |
It is a known fact that some companies have attained a lead on Microsoft with a good strategy and better technology. As long as both is in place Microsoft cannot lead. Do you think HDCD is better technology? |
Oh yeah, and new CD players will have to be made with control, alt, delete keys too.
Bummer dudes,
Patrick |
Bill Gates is a dirty, rotten, low-down, no-good, scum-sucking, lousy, waste of human flesh. I wish he would get a gun, point it at our heads, and steal like an honest criminal. I am NOW, more than ever, firmly committed to vinyl. (You can quote me on this....unless he makes my opinion unlawful, since he bought the justice department)
Happy listening to vinyl,
Patrick |
Strike "new" from the first sentence of the preceeding. |
