List of Single Inventory Multichannel SACDs

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bmoura

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Since 2002/2003
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With the increasing number of Multichannel SACDs coming out as single inventory SACD releases (no Stereo CD counterpart), I've added this information to my web listing of available Multichannel SACDs in the U.S. and Europe.

Check the listing at
ourworld.compuserve.com/h...acdnow.htm (US Multichannel SACDs) and ourworld.compuserve.com/h...sacdnw.htm (European Multichannel SACDs) for a look.



 
I just did a quick pass through the U.S. and Europe Multichannel SACD release lists. Came up with over 60 such titles so far.

Later on I'll comb through the list and update it. Apparently I missed some Single Inventory SACDs in round one.


 
At first I thought that "Single Inventory" was going to meaningful, because it would mean that the disk was priced the same way as a normal CD.

Unfortunately, this is not the case - for example, the SF Symphony recording of Mahler's Symphony No. 1 is $25 - even though it is "Single Inventory" and a "Hybrid".

I just can't justify paying $25 for a CD, regardless of high resolution or multichannel content.

In fact, so far I haven't paid more than $15 for a DVD-A or SACD (which is still $3 more than I usually pay for a redbook CD).
 
This might be true of a handful of Universal "test case" SACDs, but most are still expensive comparatively speaking. $15 street price is pretty much where it ought to be. With DVD videos such a value under $20, most SACDs look high.
 
Remember that the Mahler series SACDs by the SF Symphony Orchestra are all 2 disc sets.

So a $24.95 list price there isn't bad at all.


 
The interesting thing on the Universal Music SACD pricing is their Hybrid SACDs share the same list price as their regular Stereo CDs ($18.98 list price) while their Single Layer SACDs are $3 lower ($15.98 list price).

So the question there is what do consumers want more - $3 less than CD pricing of the same disc but no CD compatibility - or CD compatibility at the same price?

Decisions, decisions.... :)


 
That's a good question. It's frustrating that I can't play Sea Changes in the car....but I think that's a minor quibble...I would be very happy paying less and getting great sound, but the whole hybrid thing could be an invitation for people to get into multichannel music, therefore increasing the demand for more titles. I know I have been turning on as many people as I can to DVD-A/SACD. We still need to educate big box store employees on the new formats, they are generally clueless.
 
I know I'd rather pay an extra $3 for a hybrid disc, since I still do a lot (in fact, probably most) of my musical listening either at work (on my PC) or in my car. $3 extra sure beats paying full-price for an entirely seperate disc. In fact, I even paid somewhere around $20 apiece for the European hybrid Police discs just so I wouldn't have to buy standard CD versions of them as well. (I never actually owned the standards in the first place, or I wouldn't have bothered with the hybrids.) I'll probably end up doing the same for the Peter Gabriel discs (since I got rid of my old, old first-wave redbook versions awhile ago, in anticipation of the redbook remasters, which I thankfully never got around to buying either). I still haven't brought myself to buy a standard CD copy of the Beck album, even though it's one of my favorite albums of all time. (I did make a tape copy for the car, from the SACD stereo mix.)

Not to mention, it saves space on my CD shelves, not having to have two copies of everything!
 
For me it is a moot point. There is no way I am taking my high-rez discs to my car. If they got damaged it would not be good. I like to keep them as pristine as possible so I will not be taking them anywhere where they could get damaged. The only good thing about hybrids is that I can make a copy of the CD layer to take in my car. DID I SAY THAT!!!! Well I did buy the disc initially so I see nothing wrong in making a copy for myself for uses in other players. So I vote for the hybrids at a slightly inflated price.
 
Good point on that, as well. I recently finished a little project of my own, where I copied all my Rolling Stones hybrid discs, condensing the dozen or more that I bought down to eight (using the original UK track listings, then throwing on all the singles and "Metamorphosis" tracks as "bonus tracks"). And again, since I do most of my listening at work or in the car, it didn't bother me to lose the SACD quality by doing that. (And heck, with those discs, it's only a marginal difference anyway.)

Actually, I think it's been ruled on many occasions that it IS legal to make copies of recordings for your own personal use. It's when you start making copies for other people (regardless of whether you do it for money or not) that you run afoul of copyright laws.
 
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