Yes, Brian, the Stones' SACD's were historic in the fact they were the first HYBRID SACD's on the mass market - but they were STEREO, not MULTI-CHANNEL (and this is a surround sound forum primarily, isn't it? I mean, stereo's fine and all, but I'm here for the surround information).
Mike Oldfield "Tubular Bells" has clearly never been a title you can pick up at your local Walmart, Target, K-Mart, etc. Sure - you may be able to find it at "SOME" Best Buys (but certainly not at my nearest one - which hasn't been open long - in Pensacola), or Tower or Virgin Megastores (none of which I consider mass market, but rather specialized retailers). In fact, Tubular Bells is still a title that's not all that easy to find, even online - most retailers are consistently out of stock - and maaan, have you seen how much Amazon.com charges for it?? Highway robbery!! I know there are exceptions, and cheap low prices in certain spots around the country - but for the average Joe on a mission, he's way more likely to be able to pick up the Police - and now the Pink Floyd disc - just about anywhere (except for our poor Canadian brethren - my heart goes out to those guys up there who got screwed this week on that release!).
My point was about surround sound and Multi-Channel - and I stand by my statement that the Police hits hybrid MULTI-CHANNEL disc is the first SURROUND SOUND SACD (or DVD-A for that matter) to be available within 50 miles of just about every residence in the lower 48. Remember, Walmart is the USA's biggest music retailer, not Tower and certainly not Best Buy. And the most important step that needs to be paid attention to right now in order to further the cause of surround-sound is availablility and public awareness - Walmart and the like are the key here.
Also, as far as the Stones go - how many of the people who bought the 2 million copies of the SACD's actually even know they OWN SACD's? I would venture that it's a low percentage considering how Abkco basically buried the info on their own releases! That was a perfect opportunity wasted. And if Capitol doesn't do a TV ad campaign touting the 5.1 sound of DSOTM and the SACD layer - they'll only be shooting themselves in the foot. At least it's got a sticker on the front somewhat explaining the bonus surround value buyers are getting.