YOu're right, Jasper. That's another aspect that I didn't even consider. Unless there is overwhelming evidence that a new format is SUBSTANTIALLY better than the old, in more than one way, it's very difficult to get the average consumer to budge.

Since packaging is more important than the product and form is more important than substance, convinience is more important than fidelity. So, what I'm afraid of is that we'll be all doomed to MP3 hell in 5 years.

Unless of course, someone comes up with a digital format that will have the same fidelity as SACD encoding, will be the same size as current MP3 format and will be fully open, allowing people to freely copy the songs.

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... and hell freezes over and there's 2 budwiser girls for every guy and all Head-Fier's are as rich as Mr. Gates...

... but hey, it could happen (as Chris Rock says), "the best rapper is white, the best golfer is black..."

If all headfiers become as rich as Gates, this country will suffer from hyperinflation.

there aren't that many of us

...although are spending habits might tell a different story...

I think Bill Gates is worth enough to give every man, woman and child in the US $30k. That act would cause hyperinflation.

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I wonder if this is really a current problem. When I was an adolescent at the end of the LP and cassette days, 99% of kids listened to music on cheap record players, boomboxes, and walkmans. I seriously doubt that any of these sounded much if at all better than typical MP3s, despite being analogue. I did know a couple kids with real turntables, but they were looking to become DJs after graduating. Fine audio has been a minority hobby for a lot longer than the existence of MP3.

For those who cared a little bit more than average, we craved things like Bose, Technics or similar component systems that were usually sold as sets in department stores, and B&O - which I personally craved for a very long time and nearly bought last year, before looking into "high end" audio.

If you have never heard of XRCD it is because you are not looking for the highest quality of recorded music. Red Trumpet, MusicDirect and audio stores have had these in their stock for years, you just haven't looked for that quality. As for HDCD, I agree w/ Markl, Alot of CDs are HDCD and you don't even know until you put it in a HDCD player. I know these formats are different, but I see them as the same as a CD format cause you don't need a different player to listen. I think it would be great in the future if all new releases came w/ 2 layers, like the new abkco releases. Then they would sell like HDCDs (people don't even notice), but you can only benefit if you have the correct player.

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I think you could just drop the "car" in that sentence. At some point all new radios will have access to the internet and radio broadcasts will be subscription based like cable TV.

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There will be a shift in the next generatation that will not care so much about being able to hold something in their hand. Once the recording industry finally shifts to the new economics, all of the things we used to buy albums for, artwork, photographs, liner notes, lyrics, will be included in the download of the music. The housing will exist on the computer or other storage device.

Some new listeners will be ambivilant about good sound while others will not. There are quite a few Head-fiers that are of a younger generation. However, the percentage of audiophiles that are consumers of music will always remain small. There will always be companies that will cater to the audiophile commmunity because there are certain people that are willing to pay for good sound.

Which ultimately brings us to one conclusion:

The average consumer sucks.

Bunch of new DVD-A's just released today!

Sting, Diana Krall, Sheryl Crow, Marvin Gaye, etc.

Picked up the Diana Krall disc (Love Scenes) 24/96 stereo is very nice... definately worth picking up!

IMO, MP3's are the worst thing to happen to audiophiles.

Average consumers are many have stated here are interested primarily in convenience, not quality. Which is why more people will go for the fast food drive thru rather than a nice sit down restaurant.

Close enough is good enough for most people.

So the RIAA has it's head up it's @$$, too busy trying to stamp out an inferior product without offering a superior alternative of it's own.

I would really like to see a superior compression format. Like Monkey Audio on Steroids or something. 2:1 compression it not enough still.

Perhaps even a compressed version of SACD. Either way, streamed music will be the future whether the RIAA likes it or not.

DVD video was the most successful consumer media launch. Instead of suing everyone with a VCR, the manufacturers and MPAA collaborated and made a solid push for superior technology. (well except for Circuit City and their ill fated divx discs)

I, for one, hate MP3's.

They are simply a replacement for cassette tapes to me.

As long as there are enough of us to be zealots pushing for quality over quantity, our wallets will continue to be made thinner and thinner, while makig our smiles larger and larger.

From what I gather, Stereophile's circulation is about 80,000 and Absolute Sound's circulation is about 30,000. It's safe to assume that there is at least some overlap in the two subscription rates. However, even if there isn't, that makes it 120,000 audiophiles in all of US. That's less than a drop in a bucket. We can't make even a slightest dent no matter how hard we push for quality over quantity.

I think the factors that might make SACD or DVD-A atractive are:

-The surround feature.
People have 5.1 surround speaker systems now so with the right advertising people will be let to believe it sounds better on their sony 5.1 speaker set.

-It has to play on cheap do it all players.
If people can buy an all in one player with surround speakers which plays video DVD's in surround sound and audio CD's in surround sound there is no reason not to buy it.
Stereo cought on didn't it.

And let's hope that boy's will keep loving their toys and want to show off more that their HDD home players.