Super CDs and DVD audio

[Doug O' Lakes]

Don't worry, I'll try to stay on topic.

What do you think of the new Super CDs and DVD audio technology? I think it's probably not going to ever be popular, or if it does become popular, it will be in a long, long time. The thing is, CDs already have great quality and all of my friends just use $10 headphones, so that extra quality is not going to make any difference. Seeing as my friends are teenagers, and teenagers are a great part of CD sales, I think I have a point.
The other thing is, a lot of people have mp3 players now. The extra quality of a super CD or a DVD audio disc is not going to do anything. Of course, I encode to AAC (despite the fact that its quality improvement is, at best, debatable), because of the slightly smaller file size. Anyway, people aren't as willing to carry CDs around now, and when they're CDs that are incompatible with everything except maybe the DVD player in your living room, it seems like that's not a switch that people are going to make. Maybe audiophiles will, and it will complement their 6.1 BOSE audio system, but for the average music listener, it won't replace CDs.

To go off on a slight tangent, did you know they actually came out with a 20" iMac? I think it's something like 1.25 ghz. I don't know how the neck can even support it! But that's just huge. My mom has a 17" iMac (800 mhz), and that thing is enormous to someone who is used to a 12" iBook.

Also, I found a topic suitable for my favorite songs - "What's the best song?"

[buckshotbinladen]

Don't worry, I'll try to stay on topic...

To go off on a slight tangent, did you know they actually came out with a 20" iMac? I think it's something like 1.25 ghz. I don't know how the neck can even support it! But that's just huge. My mom has a 17" iMac (800 mhz), and that thing is enormous to someone who is used to a 12" iBook.

Also, I found a topic suitable for my favorite songs - "What's the best song?"

Wow. I love the conviction in that. Honestly... My opinion is that CD technology isn't going to last. In keeping with the standard goal of making everything smaller data will most likely eventually be kept virtually rather than on any physical object. As soon as diamond-plated resistors become a popular resistor choice I'm betting computers will utilize virtual memory to a much greater extent. I feel really incoherent.

[Doug O' Lakes]

Don't worry about being incoherent. Half the time I think I'm insane, the rest of the time I'm asleep. Anyway.

I don't think that CD technology is going to completely disappear until cheap hard drive-based mp3 players are widely available. Until then I think mosst people are probably just going to stick to CDs. Following that line, did you hear about the new iPod minis? They are not going to help things. Everybody was expecting them to be $100-$200, and they're $250! For crying out loud, for $50 more you can get a regular iPod with almost 4 times the storage capacity. The problem is, we need a $100 iPod before we can eliminate the CD.

However, as I mentioned, as long as audiophiles are on this earth there's always going to be some technology that they claim is completely unacceptable, as in the case of mp3 and AAC files. Well, let them have their (Super) CDs and DVD audio - 128 kbps AAC files are good enough for me.

[buckshotbinladen]

How's this for concept... headphones with a simple radio-receiver. It receives mp3s and plays them and allows the person wearing it to control what song they're listening to. (This works much like a wireless network...) Your space is limited by your computer's hard drive. And if this technology is utilized further in satellites you could listen to your music from your comptuer anywhere in the world with nothing more than a pair of headphones.

[Benj]

Wow, such great conversation!

I think Super CDs and DVD audio will be forever relegated to the (absolutely tiny) audiophile market.  CDs already have as good a dynamic range and quality as general consumers will ever, ever need.  I think the popularity of MP3, AAC, and the like really go to show that people don't really give a damn about high end audio; as long as the medium is convenient, and good enough, they will use it.  And I agree with Buckshot.  CDs as a mainstream medium of distributing music will be gone in 10 years, and with it all devoted physical media.  Music primarily will be sold either online or through in-store kiosks onto flash memory cards (or even wirelessly, who knows).  Before long, we won't even need MP3s anymore as HD and memory sizes and bandwith increase.  I bet people will commonly be buying/selling/trading raw CD WAV tracks in five years or less (hell, they already do on Kazaa, etc to a limited extent).

That's what I think anyway.

Benj

P.S. That 20" iMac looks awesome.  I want one badly.  Oh yeah, I also thought the same thing you did about the Mini iPod -- only $50 more for 15 gigs of space instead of 4 gigs.  That's pretty darn stupid.  Apple won't truly achieve what they want (taking over the low-end MP3 market) until they have a $99 iPod.  How can you take over the low end market (or even the upper-low end) with a $250 product?

[buckshotbinladen]

My friend just bought a portable CD player, it cost him over $2000 dollars. It's... obscene. Slightly tangent... but... on my mind.

[Benj]

My friend just bought a portable CD player, it cost him over $2000 dollars. It's... obscene. Slightly tangent... but... on my mind.

Is it jewel-encrusted and plated with gold?

Benj

[buckshotbinladen]

I have no idea... it's just so obscenely over-the-top.

[Benj]

Here's an recent music industry researcher's opinion on the future of CDs and music distribution:

CDs Will Die But Net Music May Be a Business Bubble

Check it out.

Benj

[buckshotbinladen]

That's such a shame. I really like something physical... There's something sad about that.

[Benj]

That's such a shame. I really like something physical... There's something sad about that.

I have the feeling that a couple generations from now, if not sooner, children who grow up in the realm of non-fixed music media like flash cards and hard drives will look back and consider CDs, LPs, cassettes, and the like to be unattractive and limiting.  They just want to be free!   What the Beatles created -- the album as a whole work of art -- this trend may very well destroy.  That art was merely a play on the medium they had to work with.  In the future, new artistic modes will emerge from the new dynamic media, and Request-A-Song is one of them.

Benj

[imjustaguy]

Soon the kids will be getting high and listening to remixed Pink Floyd, all in virtual reality.  Stellar man!

[Over13]

That's such a shame. I really like something physical... There's something sad about that.

I have the feeling that a couple generations from now, if not sooner, children who grow up in the realm of non-fixed music media like flash cards and hard drives will look back and consider CDs, LPs, cassettes, and the like to be unattractive and limiting.  They just want to be free!   What the Beatles created -- the album as a whole work of art -- this trend may very well destroy.  That art was merely a play on the medium they had to work with.  In the future, new artistic modes will emerge from the new dynamic media, and Request-A-Song is one of them.

Benj

The king is dead.  Long live the king!

What it comes down is that individuals will be able to choose from a selection of niche music that more closely fits their preferences and the artist will make more money due to the direct distribution model.  RAS has proved one of those theories right.  A cookie to whoever guesses which one that is.