The record lables are frantically searching for the best media solution for sales. There's the standard CDs that we all know and love, Super Audio CDs, DVD-Audio, wma/aac/mp3s, as well as other various and sundry options.
My personal take on the format wars is that Super Audio CDs are going to fail; it requires specialized hardware to play. DVD-Audio has potential, given the pentration of DVD players into the home market. DVD also would allow for extra content (commentary tracks, sheet music/score embedded with the songs, etc.),
"From my perspective, we're heading into a DVD-based world. I think this is going to be the feature-rich medium," Jeff Skillen, vice president of the sound company DTS Entertainment, said at the music conference. "You don't see Super Audio CD-based movies. DVD players play compact discs."
DVD-Audio has video as well as interactive features. One album Skillen is behind includes software on the music disc that lets buyers remix the songs and e-mail them back to the artist.
Article comments
1 - Mark Saleski
well, some people think that recordings on any physical media will at some point disappear.
i think this is a bunch of crap, though i sort of like to buy things.
the problem with dvd-a is there's no backwards compatibility.
2 - Niolos
How could their be backward compatibility with something that is the 1st? I'm going to assume until blue-light discs become mainstream that from here on out, dvd audio cds of the future (if there is much of one) will continue to play on dvd players. And besides, who wants to listen to 5.1 encoded audio in headphones. Cd's are here to stay longer than people think. DVD audio is a luxury for home entertainment. Think of it as the vinyl of compact discs. Better quality, less portability.
3 - Mark Saleski
i thought a 'special' dvd player was needed to take advantage of the high-end capabilitieds of dvd-a discs.
i'm sure i could be wrong as i am blogcritics resident music technology luddite.
4 - Niolos
Well that's my bad then. Either way, as I think about it, it's kind of a given that new media requires new media reader. I mean I don't think people thought "the bad thing about beta/vhs is that they dont have backwards compatiblity" in the glory days of the respective media types. In that case I look at it just as "a given" which in turn kinda makes the "problem" trivial.
5 - Tom Johnson
True DVD-A needs a special player to take advantage of the media, but most of what we see today are regular video DVDs with only the high-fidelity audio available. I don't know why there needs to be a difference, actually. This page will give you lots of information on the format.
6 - Casper
To me, DVD-Audio has a good leg up; there are lots of DVD players already in the home, those players can play all the existing CDs and DVDs have lots more space on them for new and interesting content. One band I know is recording their album right now, doing commentary tracks on each song, filming the studio sessions for inclusion on the disc, and that's just for starters.
7 - Mark Saleski
well, from the audiophile point of view DVD-A is a loser because we don't want to combine the listening system with the video system. it's icky.
i'm just interested to see if either of those two formats survive. most folks don't really care about the added sound quality (given the number of people out there who think that mp3 is 'good enough'), so it won't be enough to convince them to upgrade.
8 - Craig Lyndall
Casper, what band is that?