Posted by Rich Clark on 04/10/06 15:59

Allan wrote:
> http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/california/la-ed-hddvd10apr10,1,7088547.story?coll=la-headlines-pe-california&ctrack=1&cset=true
>
> "IF THEY WANT A GLIMPSE OF THEIR own future, Hollywood executives
> should take a peek at the latest year-end report from the Recording
> Industry Assn. of America. It's not a pretty picture. There, amid the
> statistics about declining CD sales and booming music downloads, are
> the grim numbers for the higher-fidelity formats once billed as the
> music industry's Next Big Thing. Their sluggish performance suggests
> what could happen to the two competing high-definition video formats
> that Hollywood will soon try to sell, HD-DVD and Blu-ray."

The key word there is "competing." It's hard to say what would have
happened if the entire music industry had gotten behind SACD and pushed
real hard.

When the industry itself can't pick one format and market it by clearly
outlining its benefits, consumers can't be expected to do better.
VHS/Beta is not a useful precedent, because the whole technology was
new to consumers - there was no earlier home video recording tech to be
replaced. Today, with people already satisfied with CDs, MP3s, DVDs,
and cable/satellite, a format war is the best way I can think of to
stall adoption of any of it.

RichC

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