it's no surprise iTunes took off.. all this jargon of formats and technobabble is quite off putting to someone like myself who is just not that technically-minded. if some enterprising fellow/firm were to emulate Apple's approach, with a user friendly setup and standardisation for downloading and playing these SACD rip things to the point where you don't need a PhD in DSD just to hear some decent quality surround music, that'd be just wonderful!
Well, there's certainly "technobabble" in the computer world as well. And with Apple, you are stuck with technobabble plus specialized cables, lack of USB support, etc. Fortunately that is not the case with music downloads. You buy a product with DSD support and voila, the DSD files play. No special Apple cables required...
As for SACD rips, or other rips, they are playable on DACs with DSD. But you generally find that the sound quality from the DSD Downloads are much better than the rips. So there is value in buying downloads. Not to mention the albums that were never released on SACD where rips don't exist.
And yes, Multichannel DSD is wonderful listening. No doubt about that.