Remember the last audio format war, SACD vs. DVD-Audio? Unlike the video format war, neither format won because it required a new player and neither format had the support of all the labels. What won was a format that had worse audio qualities than CD, but was immensely more portable and obtainable --- MP3 (or any derivative) and the iPod.
Well the record studios are making another go at this and circumventing the need for a new player, new format or new gear. They are using Blu-ray to accomplish what SACD and DVD-Audio tried to do, but without the format war pretense.
While this whole push is starting out in the Europe, it should eventually wind up in the US. Nirvana's Nevermind and Amy Winehouse's Back To Black will be among the first records to be released in the format.
What is this "format" on Blu-ray? The new format, officially called Pure Audio, uses similar encoding techniques to SACD/DVD-Audio but has the support of all the major record labels from the outset.
Pioneered by Universal Music, it launched in France earlier this year, where the initial batch of 35 titles have already achieved sales of more than 500,000.
When will it come to the US? Don't know, but Warner Music and Sony have already released albums on Blu-Ray in France and Japan, while Universal plans to issue 200 albums in 14 countries "very quickly".
How is Pure Audio different than CD? Ordinary CDs have a sample rate of 44.1kHz. Each snapshot is captured to a certain degree of accuracy - there are 16 digital "bits" per sample, giving a range of 65,536 possible values.
Most of the albums released in the new Blu-Ray audio format are sampled at 96kHz (96,000 snapshots per second) at 24-bit resolution (giving 16,777,216 possible values).
Granted, this is still for a niche audience that is willing to buy and optical disc for music. The jury is pretty much out on optical disc music as CD sales have plummeted over the years in favor of MP3 and not with streaming audio. Eventually, the Pure Audio files could be distributed digitally themselves - but with a four-minute song needing 1GB of storage space it will be a while before technology affords the compression necessary to stream or the space to hold on a media device.
How many listen to audio optical disc? How many people own either DVD-Audio or SACD discs?
Well the record studios are making another go at this and circumventing the need for a new player, new format or new gear. They are using Blu-ray to accomplish what SACD and DVD-Audio tried to do, but without the format war pretense.
While this whole push is starting out in the Europe, it should eventually wind up in the US. Nirvana's Nevermind and Amy Winehouse's Back To Black will be among the first records to be released in the format.
What is this "format" on Blu-ray? The new format, officially called Pure Audio, uses similar encoding techniques to SACD/DVD-Audio but has the support of all the major record labels from the outset.
Pioneered by Universal Music, it launched in France earlier this year, where the initial batch of 35 titles have already achieved sales of more than 500,000.
When will it come to the US? Don't know, but Warner Music and Sony have already released albums on Blu-Ray in France and Japan, while Universal plans to issue 200 albums in 14 countries "very quickly".
How is Pure Audio different than CD? Ordinary CDs have a sample rate of 44.1kHz. Each snapshot is captured to a certain degree of accuracy - there are 16 digital "bits" per sample, giving a range of 65,536 possible values.
Most of the albums released in the new Blu-Ray audio format are sampled at 96kHz (96,000 snapshots per second) at 24-bit resolution (giving 16,777,216 possible values).
Granted, this is still for a niche audience that is willing to buy and optical disc for music. The jury is pretty much out on optical disc music as CD sales have plummeted over the years in favor of MP3 and not with streaming audio. Eventually, the Pure Audio files could be distributed digitally themselves - but with a four-minute song needing 1GB of storage space it will be a while before technology affords the compression necessary to stream or the space to hold on a media device.
How many listen to audio optical disc? How many people own either DVD-Audio or SACD discs?
