I've also been working on the 1812 Overture, but the cannon fire at the end is proving to be problematic.

Yeah, the difference between the two made trying the SACD easy. There are some pretty good deals out there. I just typed in "SACD" in the Amazon search function and started scrolling through everything. Quite a few reasonably priced discs out there.

I can imagine it has occasionally resulted in you doing the waffle stomp.

No, I leave it there as acoustical treatment.

Sean showing me up with an SACD purchase for a few dollars more than my Redbook CD purchase made me spend a little time searching for SACD and multi-channel discs. (Well, that and the fact that the VP160 will likely open up new enjoyment of multi-channel audio).

I don't remember any reviews here of Moving Pictures - Deluxe Edition [CD + Blu-ray]. A search didn't turn up anything either. I would think Neil Peart in surround would have had tongues wagging here.

Also, I never knew that Steely Dan- Aja was released on SACD. It's been one of my favorite albums of all time and despite the exorbitant price, I might treat myself!

Jeeez, I wish hi-rez, multichannel, well-mastered stuff would start coming out in Blu-Ray. The hardware installation is in place...just release the damn discs! I think everything that has already gone through remastering for SACD and DVD-A multi-channel could easily be released on Blu-Ray without much of an effort. The work has been done.

Release them now, dammit!

Why would they? No one's gonna buy them, that's why SACD and DVD-A failed. No one bought it.

Certainly, the vast majority of the market wants convenience over fidelity.

But one of the failures of the previous formats...in my opinion... is that they required a special player that was SACD or DVD-A capable. The players that most would buy at Best Buy didn't even allow you to play those formats.

If they stick to the B-D standard, ANY B-D player will play them. No add'l hardware investment required.

Now certainly, the discs not going to sound as good on a $500 HTIB setup, but they can at least still be played. And, if you have a $500 HTIB, you're either satisfied with the sound or not willing/able to invest more anyway.

I'm not saying that people will beat a path to the door selling them, but the work...remastering into multi-channel... has already been done.

So, not huge sales numbers... but hardly more investment either.

Hardware proliferation was more of an issue with those formats. I think lacking a visual component is an issue, too, though, so what I think would work is combining a high-res multichannel recording of the album with a concert from the supporting tour. This release would come out well after the CD/download releases, of course, so the companies can have their double-dip, and the people who want the multichannel recordings don't have to feel totally taken advantage of, since they're getting a bonus concert to go with it. Of course, this mainly works on new releases, so they would have to figure out a way to add some accompanying video content to the classic albums being referred to, if they wanted to stay consistent. I'd be game to buy audio-only Blu-ray releases, but it would be a lot easier for me to justify if they also came with CD-quality FLAC versions or a CD itself so I could still rip the music for portability.

Charles nailed it. Just include the CD.

Mark, if it's one of your favorite albums go ahead and get it. it'll probably just keep going up in price and you'll be kicking yourself for not grabbing it when you did.

There are certain albums you just gotta treat yourself to. Price and sensibility be damned!