A quote from the Audiophile Audition October 3rd newsletter:
"4000 Mark Hit in SACD Releases Worldwide - Sony's Super Audio CD Project has announced that with the recent release of two SACDs in Chesky's New York Sessions series the number of releases in the format has topped the 4000 mark. About a year ago the 3000 mark was reached with the surround version of Dire Straits' Brothers in Arms. While most of the releases recently have been in the classical genre, many pop and jazz SACDs have been issued internationally but not distributed in the U.S. for some reason. The total has risen with many reissues of original PCM masters of classical and jazz mixed for multichannel by European labels such as Membran. With some of the major labels having pulled back from SACD releases, most of them have come from independent labels such as PentaTone, Channel Classics, Telarc, Hyperion, Chandos, Harmonia mundi, Praga Digitals and BIS. Sony/BMG claims to be the largest producer of SACD albums to date, with 699 titles in their catalog - but many of those were issued only in Japan.
The majority of Sony SACDs have not been hybrid until very recently, and are unplayable on standard CD players. Since compatibility of the SACD format was one of its main selling points, this was impossible to understand. Sony seems to be following the same bizarre practice with their new Blu-ray DVD format - none of the new discs are playable on a standard DVD player, whereas the competing HD-DVD format discs (which actually have less storage capacity) are. And none of the Blu-ray players announced thus far play SACDs. Sony/BMG has reduced their SACD new releases to a trickle - mostly the Living Stereo three-channel series. But Sony products has announced a new SACD player: the SCD-XA1200, part of their high end ES series."
Is anyone at Sony actually responsible for co-ordinating their projects or thinking further than an initial bright idea?
"4000 Mark Hit in SACD Releases Worldwide - Sony's Super Audio CD Project has announced that with the recent release of two SACDs in Chesky's New York Sessions series the number of releases in the format has topped the 4000 mark. About a year ago the 3000 mark was reached with the surround version of Dire Straits' Brothers in Arms. While most of the releases recently have been in the classical genre, many pop and jazz SACDs have been issued internationally but not distributed in the U.S. for some reason. The total has risen with many reissues of original PCM masters of classical and jazz mixed for multichannel by European labels such as Membran. With some of the major labels having pulled back from SACD releases, most of them have come from independent labels such as PentaTone, Channel Classics, Telarc, Hyperion, Chandos, Harmonia mundi, Praga Digitals and BIS. Sony/BMG claims to be the largest producer of SACD albums to date, with 699 titles in their catalog - but many of those were issued only in Japan.
The majority of Sony SACDs have not been hybrid until very recently, and are unplayable on standard CD players. Since compatibility of the SACD format was one of its main selling points, this was impossible to understand. Sony seems to be following the same bizarre practice with their new Blu-ray DVD format - none of the new discs are playable on a standard DVD player, whereas the competing HD-DVD format discs (which actually have less storage capacity) are. And none of the Blu-ray players announced thus far play SACDs. Sony/BMG has reduced their SACD new releases to a trickle - mostly the Living Stereo three-channel series. But Sony products has announced a new SACD player: the SCD-XA1200, part of their high end ES series."
Is anyone at Sony actually responsible for co-ordinating their projects or thinking further than an initial bright idea?