DualDiscs are half-CD,
half-DVD and half-baked

NEW YORK - Sony has been dealing with LCDs for years. Liquid crystal displays abound in their phones, PDAs, computers and TVs. Now Sony is embracing another kind of LCD: lowest common denominator. Instead of promoting Super Audio CDs — a 21st century music format that Sony invented — the company has decided to take a step backward, by offering yet another confusing format that I believe is bound to fail.

A DualDisc looks like most CDs or DVDs. That’s because it is two-sided hybrid. On one side is the full-length CD audio album. The other side offers DVD content which might include enhanced album audio, 5.1 surround sound, music videos, artist interviews, behind-the-scenes footage, documentary films, photo galleries, lyrics, computer-ready digital song files or Web links. The content depends on the artist.

The main selling point here is that the DVD side of the DualDisc offers what the music industry is touting as superior audio.  Many DualDiscs include surround sound mixes that have been specially created during the recording process. When listened to on a 5.1 channel surround system, the result is a rich, three-dimensional musical experience.

In theory, you don’t need any special new equipment to play a DualDisc. The DVD side plays wherever a DVD plays, including many gaming consoles and computers. DualDiscs with computer extras and Web links can be used in a PC like a DVD-ROM. The CD side holds as much music as a regular CD but the DVD side holds less than a normal DVD.

The CD side plays on all but a limited number of CD and DVD players. However, to take full advantage of DualDiscs that feature surround sound, you’ll need a 5.1 channel surround system. The DVD side might contain high-resolution DVD-Audio. Then again it might not.  DualDiscs won’t contain SACD audio. Sony seems to have abandoned the great-sounding technology.

The asterisk
Did you notice that subtle warning that DualDiscs will play in "all but a limited number" of machines? DualDiscs come with asterisks and cautions all over the place: a sticker on the cellophane wrapper, highlighted text on the DualDisc box and a little blow-in card inside all tell you:

“The audio side of this disc does not conform to CD specifications and therefore not all DVD and CD players will play the audio side of this disc.”

The problem is the width of the disc. By fusing a CD and a DVD the hybrid disc is slightly thicker and doesn’t really confirm to what is called the "red book" CD standard. The difference in thickness is difficult to see, hence the warnings.

Manufacturers are worried that someone may have trouble using a DualDisc in an old slot-loaded CD or DVD player but the industry line is that so far there have been few if any complaints.

Not true, says my local retailer, a very large music and electronics superstore in lower Manhattan. I went in there today to buy a few DualDiscs and was told that they were seeing a lot of returns. The gentleman behind the counter said that said maybe three discs a week were coming back because they didn’t play properly, or at all, on customer’s machines.

Three discs a week may not sound like a lot, but he said that they don’t sell that many of them. He added that customers also complained about the quality of the 5.1 surround sound and the video programming on the DVD sides.

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