So what's up with high-res?

[Dusty Chalk]

Anyone have any predictions? Or how about actual knowledge? SACD has firmly entrenched itself as a niche market...and getting "nicher". Are either HD-DVD or BluRay going to carry high-res audio, either high-rate PCM or DSD?

(Can you tell I just read in this month's Stereophile the "As We See It"?)

I WANT MY HIGH-RES!!!1!

[aerius]

The following is my totally uninformed opinion, and may not bear any resemblance to reality.

CD is here to stay until they get yanked off the shelves and replaced wholesale with DVD-A or SACD. As long as there's a divided format, hi-res ain't going nowhere. I could still probably count the number of hi-res albums I'd want to buy on my hands, hell, I have an easier time finding the music I want on vinyl, vinyl for fuck's sake, and as long as this is true the only hi-res discs I'm buying are black and 12 inches in diameter. I suspect this is also true of quite a few other people.

In conclusion, hi-res already exists, it's called "vinyl" or "records".

[DigiPete]

After the lackluster support of DVD-A and SACD by the content providers,

I don't see then jumping on the HD DVD or Blu Ray wagon to provide content on those media either.

I buy SACD and DVDA when I find stuff I like or want to try, but that is a very small selection.

In a world of MP3 and itunes, even the CD may become endangered...

[Chekhonte]

I Think the CD is already endangered. There are currently no chain record stores in my town. The only place you can find good a decent selection of music is at the two indi record stores and they don't carrytop 20 stuff unless it just happens to be indi as well. I"m not saying that that there still isn't a market of CD's, I'm just saying it's shrunk tremendously and is still shrinking. I remember reading an artical around here not too long ago saying that in certain circumstanced vinyl was outselling CDs.

[postjack]

Chekhonte, the article said that the percentage of vinyl sales went up while the percentage of CD sales continues to go down, which means that there were still many more CDs sold then vinyl. Still, it shows the vinyl market is growing.

As for hi-rez, DVD-A is dead, and SACD is dead outside of classical. I predict Best Buy will stop carrying CDs almost altogether in 3-5 years. Already now you can only find new releases and greatest hits albums.

[aerius]

It's funny, my local BestBuy has practically every edition of "Dark Side of the Moon" known to man, yet it's missing a third of the Pink Floyd catalogue on a good day.