The Format War is Over: Give Peace a Chance
Remember the old saw, "What if they gave a war and
nobody came?" If you really want to know, take a look at what happened in high-end
audio.
In the high-end chat rooms and bulletin boards, there's a
lot of talk about this "war" and comparisons to the VHS versus Beta format wars
from the early days of videocassette. But the situation isn't at all analogous -- if you wanted
to enjoy time-shifting, archiving, or simply watching movies in your home, you had
to choose one or the other. You had to pick a side and hope it won.
That's not the case with SACD and DVD-A. As much as I might
want a higher-resolution storage medium, most people don't even suspect there could be
such a thing. There are millions of CD players in use and the number of DVD players grows
in leaps and bounds every day -- and all of them play CDs. (And so what if I personally
don't like the CD performance of most DVD players? Almost no one else cares.)
If people don't want to choose a hound in this particular
dogfight, they don't have to. And that's an option nearly everyone is exercising. I don't
know a single person who isn't in the industry who owns either format. More than that, I
don't even know anyone who would like to hear about them. The general public's
indifference is overwhelming.
The audiophiles who insist that there is a war claim
that's because the very existence of the two formats has caused people to adopt a
wait-and-see attitude. Give me a break! The only people stacking up in a holding pattern
are the ones who see this as a struggle that will be "won."
It won't.
In fact, it has already been lost and the participants know
it. If there was really any widespread hunger among the general populace for a
higher-quality playback format, Sony would have insisted that ABKCO label the much
ballyhooed (by audiophiles) dual-layer SACD reissues as such on the outside of the
package. Actually, if there was even the mildest general interest in the issue,
ABKCO wouldn't have wanted to hide that info inside the gatefold.
That interest doesn't exist and the players all know it.
Only the audiophiles (myself included, of course) have been convinced otherwise. I want
a better sounding music-delivery system. Maybe even you want a better
music-delivery system. Heck, maybe one of us two would even be willing to pay a
premium for it.
Nobody else would be. Most people think CDs cost too much
-- and whether they do or not is a topic for a different discussion. They sure don't want
to spend more on music and they don't want to buy the same discs one more time in a
new "improved" format.
Besides, that ain't the issue and Big Music knows
it. They don't care about high-resolution audio. They're only offering it because a change
in formats would give 'em what they do want: content protection. Big Music doesn't
want a new format; it wants you to stop using the old format any way you want. Napster, CD
burners, MP3 trading, and an increasing sense of consumer entitlement to transfer music
from one location or format to another has the labels running scared.
I understand that artists must be paid for their work and
I'm not averse to record labels making a living for subsidizing the music I enjoy either.
But I do find it insupportable that the labels deny me the right to transfer the Rolling
Stones music, for which I paid the user royalty fees, from my CD to my computer where I
can listen to it during the workday. I did pay for its use after all -- who are they to
tell me I can't transfer it or play it where I wish? Where do I apply for my part-time
user's rebate?
Yes, there are people who do copy music rather than buy it.
There are also people who drive while drunk, ignore traffic laws, and speed all the time
-- but the State still "allows" us law-abiding drivers to use our cars in the
streets.
Big Music is running scared that technology and a paradigm
shift in distribution modalities will render the labels obsolete. If they try to change
the rules on us through legislature or through technological trickery, they risk making us
mad enough to prove them right.
I propose our next step should be clearing the air and
starting a new, fresh dialogue. But first, let's drop the charade. The format war is over.
The CD won.
What's next?
...Wes Phillips
wes@onhifi.com
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