Re: [ARSCLIST] Vanguard Classics reappears in 2 cd sets

[Tom Fine <tflists@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Which, again, relegates it to a niche market which is just not a profitable place for the owners of 
the major recorded catalogs to play. Just because Don Cox and to some extend Tom Fine and a small 
crowd of others wish something, doesn't mean it makes any business sense for shareholder-driven 
large public companies to pursue. I'm sure this will ignite another round of "damn those copyright 
laws" by the collector contingent here. Notice I stay out of that one most of the time because I 
think it's a huge load of hot air even if I very much agree with some of it. Basically, we're a very 
small group with a very small voice in a very large woods so I just don't see a lot of need to get 
worked up about something that's not going to change. Where individual efforts do pay off is in 
preserving and collecting history, and that's something that is beyond the scope of the business 
practices of most large companies today. Quick case to illustrate the point. I found in a box of 
tapes a radio distribution dupe of a series of 1968 Chevrolet commercials. I ping'd GM's investor 
relations and offered to GIVE them a digi-copy for their archives. They replied there IS NO 
ARCHIVES. What could be more valuable to a company that makes its bread from advertising a somewhat 
generic product -- where the main point of difference is marketing -- than an archive of marketing 
so today's attention-challenged marketers might learn from past successes and mistakes? But, alas, 
very few companies have any corporate archives. One big exception is Coca-Cola, BTW, which has a 
paid corporate historian. If GM does have an archive or a historian and the investor relations 
people -- to whom most random e-mails are funneled -- do not know about it, then that's totally 
dysfunctional.

OK, back to our topic at hand and this is the last I'll say about this because I have a feeling it 
drifts far off ARSC topics in some regards.

If one were to pursue a high-def digital audio format, I believe the better choice is DVD-A. Why? 
Let me list a few reasons:

-- it's part of the DVD standard and most if not all DVD players can do it without adding cost by 
buying Sony/Philips chips.

-- most if not all recording and mastering facilities are now capable of 96/24 PCM mastering. I know 
DVD-A will accomodate up to 192/24 for 2 channels, but it's dubious whether that's a good idea. See 
numerous opinions on this including Dan Lavry. DVD-A limits surround to 44.1/16, I believe, which 
may be a drawback in some cases, but I still believe the crowd who condemns all 44.1/16 content just 
don't have good playback equipment.

-- since DVD-A is not a proprietary format, many computers can write DVD disc images. So, since I 
question whether there is a large enough market to justify retail store distribution and packaging 
for most high-def reissue material, this opens up the possibility to sell burn-once disc images 
online. Some computer genius must be capable of putting something in to have the self-contained 
image burn one or whatever limit desired DVD-A discs and then self-erase. That's about the same 
level of copyright protection as iTunes, which allows I think 6x CD burns and then disables further 
CD burns. Could one clone the DVD-A? Sure. Can one clone a CD burned from iTunes? Sure. So it's the 
same.

-- DSD digital recording may well be superior for all the reasons Sony and Philips outline, but it 
has not caught on as a mainstream thing. Why? Proprietary/expensive, limited number of manufacturers 
making (expensive) recording devices, etc. I don't think Sony and Philips have incentive to loosen 
up the licensing until a market emerges for the end product, which has not happened beyond a niche 
(yes, a profitable niche in some cases, but a niche).

-- for the mainstream market, we've been down the surround road several times before. It just 
doesn't work, in any format. Very few people (ie very few potential buyers of software) -- compared 
to the overall market -- wish to or can invest in 5.1 surround systems. So it's just not a mass 
market. Ever. So why do DVD's come with 5.1 built in? As I understand the economics of Hollywood, 
it's much easier to incorporate the already-made/already-paid-for surround soundtrack into the DVD 
than do a costly remix, particularly when a 2-ch fold-down is part of the Dolby system anyway.

So, again, while a few of us may WISH for things to be different, business reality is what calls the 
day in a market capitalist economy.

Finally, I just want to point out, as Bob Ohlsson does occasionally, that copyright laws exist for a 
reason. If there weren't copyright laws, none of the commercial recordings we talk about on this 
list would have ever been made because there would be no economic incentive to make them. Now, 
whether the protection extends to ludicrous outer limits is a very good topic for debate. But I 
think the technological advances that have led to rampant piracy are what motivates those who want 
to make copyright infinite. This whole crazy notion of "free information" just flies in the face 
with how things have worked since the first printing press. Simple fact is that professional-quality 
recorded music, movies or whatever costs a large amount of money to do correctly and there is no 
incentive to spend that money unless a legal mechanism exists to recoup it and make a profit.

-- Tom Fine

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Dale francis" <dallen@xxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <ARSCLIST@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Sunday, June 11, 2006 8:04 AM
Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] Vanguard Classics reappears in 2 cd sets


> On Jun 10, 2006, at 2:14 PM, Don Cox wrote:
>
> > It simply has not been marketed. And probably most consumers don't  have
> > good enough speakers to hear the difference.
>
> This is all too true and the other half of the equation,
> the equipment needed to produce sacd is proprietary (sony).
>
>
> dale
>
> ___________________________
> Dale A. Francis, Owner/Engineer
> Long Run Audio :: Athens, Ohio
>   : dale@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx :
> <http://www.longrunaudio.com/>