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In the entire history of audio playback, there have been five major transitions in media:
1. Cylinder to flat 78 RPM records
2. 78 RPM to primarily 33 and secondarily 45 RPM records.
3. Mono to compatible Stereo records
4. Stereo Records to Stereo Digital Compact Discs
5. Stereo Digital Compact Discs to Stereo Downloaded/Streamed Audio
(In all fairness, the last transition above includes lossy formats (MP3). Those of interest to audiophiles would be lossless such as PCM or FLAC.))
All of these transitions required a complete repurchase of old media to utilize the new. Since the majority of audio enthusiasts had more invested in media than their reproduction, there is an enormous amount of inertia/resistance to change in any transition of media. This resistance to change extends to those who are in the business of providing the media. The importance of this fact is not to be taken lightly. This is exactly why there have been so few changes in audio formats.
Here is a list of (by no means complete) of consumer audio failed format proposals: Four track cartridges, eight track cartridges, open reel tapes, mini cassette, microcassette, elcaset, deutsche cassette, sq quadraphonic, cd-4 quadraphonic, qs-matrix quadraphonic, surround sound audio, DAT, digital compact cassette, mini-discs, DVD-Audio, SACD, HDCD, and Blu-ray high fidelity pure audio. On probable deathwatch is DSD. What all of the above formats have in common is that none of them had a complete (or even near complete) catalog of music already available on the prior existing format. The above list is a perfect example of that definition of insanity by doing the same thing repeatedly expecting different results. (I should talk – I suckered myself into making a DSD product – the Loki)
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