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I used to think SACD was doomed...

...but now I'm not so sure.

There's some evidence (or so I've heard) that some labels are beginning view SACD as a product for a niche market: audiophiles. This is increasingly possible as SACD production costs come down. Once it reaches a certain critical mass--and it may not require that much--production costs (especially for reissues of stuff initially recorded high-quality analog or 24 bit) will continue to decline.

At a certain point, they don't have to sell a lot of copies for a disc to be profitable...especially if it's for music they already own or can license. I'm thinking here of jazz and classical reissues.

I doubt there will ever be much demand for--or supply of--run-of-the-mill, mainstream pop music in high-rez formats...especially those that won't allow you to use it on your I-Pod. But it's possible that SACD will continue to be an important format for audiophiles. That, anyway (FWIW) is my current view.

Not that you asked, but I believe--and I regret--that the nails are already in the DVD-Audio coffin, mainly because of DualDisk. That's a format that may have legs for the mainstream pop market, but for audiophiles its doomed by lousy labeling and a likely preference in the mass-market for video on the DVD side. You have to do serious research just to figure out what audio formats you're getting. And then there's the justified derision cast on the format by the manufacturers of high-end equipment...

Cheers,
Jim

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