The problem is that there aren't any 'BLu- ray-Audio' players nor is there any in the pipeline. I've been reading comments by those who bought the PF Blu ray discs and generally they prefer the SACD for audio content. It's not as simple as 'we'll use that format for audio' as the needs of Audio and Video content are very different.Ok, but why not use the blu tech to create new audio format that allows less compressed audio, it's not like they have to start from svratch the blueprints here and getting cheaper, asda have a blu ray for £40
They are, but that doesn't say much. Cassette was the biggest selling Audio format until CD overtook it in the early 90's. I do hope no-one would argue the toss for the sound quality of Cassette..........I don't think there is demand. It wouldn't convert downloaders and history shows that most people are happy with CD quality.
Looking at the US figures, in 2010, demand for hires, in this case vinyl, had peaked. The view is that the market is now saturated, and that no further increase in demand for hi-resolution media is likely - at the very least until the recession ends. We forget that sales of vinyl over the last five years has grown steadily to make it a substantive nice market, however, by niche we still mean 'small'. At the same time CD sales have collapsed, Downloads have increased (whether we like it or not) exponentially, and hires digital remains a niche within a niche.I'm still somewhat optimistic about the future availability of high-quality audio recordings, even assuming that CD's will eventually disappear (although probably not by the end of next year). I'm sure that the mass market will be happy with compressed formats (mp3 and Apple formats), but there already are at least a few Internet vendors who offer music in CD quality or better. The fact that such a vendor can sell directly to customers world-wide (barring regional licensing problems) makes me hope that they can survive. Even if only 1% of all music consumers are interested in their product, I would hope that would be sufficient.
My interest in music downloads has just recently begun, as I am now a happy owner of an Oppo BDP-93, which can play a diverse range of media from external HDs and network streaming devices -- including FLAC up to 196/24. I assume other devices with similar capabilities will be available in the coming years, so that the market for HD audio (or at least well-mastered 44.1/16) will at least remain constant.
I'm sure that will always be the case. But considering the fact that all mastering is done in the digital domain these days, the pool of potential material for hi-res distribution is vast. It's just up to the vendors to make the material available to the audiophile market. Even if that market is quite small, I would hope that the amount of offerings will increase.... hires digital remains a niche within a niche.
I'm still somewhat optimistic about the future availability of high-quality audio recordings, even assuming that CD's will eventually disappear (although probably not by the end of next year). I'm sure that the mass market will be happy with compressed formats (mp3 and Apple formats), but there already are at least a few Internet vendors who offer music in CD quality or better.
As with everything in life these days, it will be down to money, not giving quality to those who want it. The licence owners charge the download sites per track, not per album, plus it costs more to store FLAC than MP3 in terms of storage space. You are talking thousands of tracks in MP3 format as opposed to hundreds in FLAC.I'm sure that will always be the case. But considering the fact that all mastering is done in the digital domain these days, the pool of potential material for hi-res distribution is vast. It's just up to the vendors to make the material available to the audiophile market. Even if that market is quite small, I would hope that the amount of offerings will increase.
We have two Apple Subscribers in this house, and they are both happy with what they get - but then they are only interested in new material.The subscriber model still has some kinks to iron out, aside quality, content is still an issue. It seems certain companies are stopping artists appearing on subs models. In reality, what this means in Napster is you get a 30 second clip instead of the full song.
It doesn't occur a lot from my searches, but it does limit what your monthly fee covers. Of course you can purchase the songs separately, but if this trend continues, the subs model will become less and less attractive.
I think a subscription model is the worst option to be honest. At least downloads can't suddenly disappear. I can't count the number of times albums have been removed from Spotify and left me disappointed.
Wow! That is scary!Well, current subscription services have so many problems (catalogue holes, low bitrate, no gapless etc) that they're no match for actually owning and playing the stuff you want your way. While bands continue to receive such poor royalties the missing albums/artists problem is unlikely to be solved. With headphones and personal playlists, the playback problems are a non-issue for most. I see streaming services as a useful add-on for discovering music, but most people I know seem to accept them as a 100% replacement and seem to think that "Metallica/ACDC/Cannibal Corpse/Pink Floyd/etc simply don't exist because they're not on Spotify".
Toasty said:The media just refer to downloads now, had radio 1 on yesterday for some reason and its all download this and that now. Same when I heard Radio 5 talking about the Christmas number 1.
Edit: This report mentions kids will be receiving music vouchers this christmas and online stores using parental guidance. I know Napster already identifies explicit songs and albums.
I used to love and loathe going into HMV and Virgin as a kid. They were some of the only places I could source the bands I wanted to buy and it was great seeing them on their shelves, but then you see the price tag..
Worthy of note though, CD sales are still over 3 times greater than those "digital" sales. If you kill it off you'd loose serious amounts of sales!