What audio brands are you not attracted to?

[Feanor]

No *rational* reason? So, who will fund the replacement of my 600 odd albums with the CD or SACD equivalents? I am loathe to spend another $8k to replace all of them largely for convenience. Nor am I really motivated to spend hundreds of hours of effort to rip, separate, and process all the tracks digitally (although I have done so in small amounts). ...

'Stat, having a sizable vinyl collection is the best possible -- indeed the only good -- reason for maintaining a vinyl set up. (That's why I still have mine, though some day I'd like to get around to ripping them all to computer files.) Let me clarify that I meant "rational" in context of a basis for insisting on the continued superiority of vinyl as a medium.

..
I seriously doubt that vinyl-o-philes are responsible for the relative lackluster support of the hi-rez mediums. I think a far more likely cause is due to the availability of inexpensive "singles" usually packaged in the opposite fidelity medium - low bit rate MP3s found on iTunes, etc.
...

But this is exactly what I do belief. To reiterate, that continued adherence to vinyl by audiophiles has hindered and perhaps killed acceptance of SACD. On the contrary, I consider MP3 downloads to be irrelevant to the SACD situation.

[E-Stat]

Let me clarify that I meant "rational" in context of a basis for insisting on the continued superiority of vinyl as a medium.

I kinda gathered what you meant. Sorry for picking on you. I'm just not a vinyl elitist. Speaking of which, have you seen video as posted today on AA? How about two million records?

But this is exactly what I do believe

I guess we'll agree to disagree here. Kids are waaay too impatient to wait fifty times longer to download a hi-rez SACD cut at ~150 MB vs. 3 MB for a 128 kb MP3. All kidding aside, do you realize the impact this would have on the IT infrastructures of universities across both our countries? They already have to deal with students doing streaming audio and video feeds and all the music downloading that goes on in the low-rez world. The bandwidth for online distribution is just not here yet. Give it a few years, maybe ten for universally available wicked-fast bandwidth.

rw

[Feanor]

....
I guess we'll agree to disagree here. Kids are waaay too impatient to wait fifty times longer to download a hi-rez SACD cut at ~150 MB vs. 3 MB for a 128 kb MP3. All kidding aside, do you realize the impact this would have on the IT infrastructures of universities across both our countries? They already have to deal with students doing streaming audio and video feeds and all the music downloading that goes on in the low-rez world. The bandwidth for online distribution is just not here yet. Give it a few years, maybe ten for universally available wicked-fast bandwidth.

rw

I agree with what you're saying about kids & downloads, in fact it's indisputable. I'm talking about those old, grey-haired audiophiles who continue to buy LPs instead of buying SACDs -- I'm talking about the silver discs.

As for me, I'd be fine with hi-rez downloads, say PCM 24/96. Yes, downloads would take a while, but I'm patient and there are download managers that can handle interruption, etc.

[E-Stat]

I'm talking about those old, grey-haired audiophiles who continue to buy LPs instead of buying SACDs -- I'm talking about the silver discs.

Switching every one of *us* over would hardly put a dent in the overall market.

rw

[Feanor]

Switching every one of *us* over would hardly put a dent in the overall market.

rw

'Stat, don't play dumb. You know perfectly well I'm not talking about the overall market.

I'm talking about audiophile niche markets. I'm saying the SACD audiophile niche market competes with the LP audiophile niche market. I'm saying I wish the latter would go away in favor of the former.

[Ajani]

'Stat, don't play dumb. You know perfectly well I'm not talking about the overall market.

I'm talking about audiophile niche markets. I'm saying the SACD audiophile niche market competes with the LP audiophile niche market. I'm saying I wish the latter would go away in favor of the former.

Oh Crap... I really am dumb, because all this time I couldn't understand why you kept thinking LP had some significant effect on the sale of SACDs...

You're talking about Niche market, not overall sales

That makes sense now... LP lovers are the niche market that SACD would want to take over...

[E-Stat]

'Stat, don't play dumb...I'm talking about audiophile niche markets. I'm saying the SACD audiophile niche market competes with the LP audiophile niche market.

Dumb? I consider myself pragmatic. Competes in what way? I think we're talking across each other. The overall failure of the hi-rez market and large scale commitment by Sony are governed by the overall market.

' I'm saying I wish the latter would go away in favor of the former.

And if that were to happen (which I believe is highly unlikely given the inertia), what do expect would change or occur?

rw

[Ajani]

And if that were to happen (which I believe is highly unlikely given the inertia), what do expect would change or occur?

That is a good question...

My guess is that the SACD Niche Market would be a larger niche market... resulting in... well...ummm...urrrr... nothing really... You might be able to pick up a few more titles on SACD than you do now, but the effect would likely be very small...