They are half right at least- DVD-A won't play in your CD player, but all the current and future SACD hybrids will. CNN does mention the Stones re-issues further on but fail to understand that this undermines their argument.

Scott has his own spin on the CNN story. For the record I'm 100% on with his comment that "...a whole raft of assertions are a really pure example of what happens when a marketroid and a particularly clueless press monkey get together to hatch a story." But some of his other statements are questionable. Consider:

"The folks who really cared about recording actual performances, mostly classical guys (is Telarc even still in business any more?) had been making digital recordings for several years when CDs came out. "

Yes, Telarc is still in business. In fact they are one of the major proponents of SACD. Telarc, among other small labels who emphasized recording quality, have for many years been recording at higher bit and sample rates that the 16 bit, 44.1 Mhtz required for CD. Why buy the equipment to do more than the CD standard required? Because they felt strongly that the CD standard was not enough. Now they are able to release those higher resolution recordings.

Scott then says "Lots, and I mean lots, of people have home theater rigs nowadays, and more are adding them every day. Now that you can get an AC3 receiver for less than $300, you have very little reason not to. CDs don't have the ability to take advantage of these new developments because of the way their standards were written back in the late 70s. DVD-Audio lets you leverage your existing home theater investment. Because of this, Sony's attempt to set yet another standard will fail just like Beta and those minidisc recorders."

I agree that the market is going home theater. But this is not a reason to reject SACD. SACD is a multi-channel format just like DVD-A is. The reason I prefer SACD is the hybrid advantage I discussed above. No matter how impressive they are you will never be able to play your DVD-A discs in your car CD player. Many DVD-A discs can not be played without access to a TV monitor though this is more a limitation in the user interface design of the players than a limitation of the disc. But anyone who has played DVDs knows that interface menu design is far from a science at this point.