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

On the other hand, I’m happy to report that I had no problems playing my DualDiscs either in my cars or at home. That includes a number of CD/SACD and DVD players, PCs and laptops. As expected, of course, the DVD side doesn’t play in my Sony 9000ES CD/SACD machine.

I now have three DualDiscs in my possession: "Rebirth," by Jennifer Lopez, "Back in Black" by AC/DC, and the Miles Davis’ classic "Kind of Blue."  "Rebirth" comes with a documentary plus two video versions of "Get Right." The DVD side of "Back in Black" comes with a version of the entire album in Superior Sound, a film on the making of the album and an on-screen discography. "Kind of Blue" comes with a 5.1 channel surround sound version, the documentary "Made in Heaven" and a historic photo gallery.

Sound wise, my DualDiscs range from horrible and one-dimensional ("Rebirth") to average CD quality good (the other two).  I’ve watched the included videos and thought they looked fine.  The two-channel audio on the DVD side sounded OK coming from my HDTV’s speakers. I don’t have a surround sound system set up at the moment so I can’t comment on that.

The DualDiscs cost $13.99 each. The CD-only version of the J. Lo album was selling for the same price as the DualDisc. The older AC/DC and Miles Davis albums were selling for $9.99 on CD. The extra material was nice, but not worth the extra $4.

The J. Lo pricing raises another question. If the CD and DualDisc versions are selling for the same price, why buy the CD? More importantly, why isn’t the CD selling for less if it has fewer features? Maybe if record companies started lowering the price of CDs then CD sales might be able to compete with MP3s and popular downloading services. People might think twice about spending $9.99 for a download from iTunes if the actual CD sold for the same price.

Being able to play DualDiscs on current hardware is a terrific idea — except for one big glaring fact: Sony is a hardware maker. In the past, new software technology (cassettes, 8-track, CD, DVD) always needed new players, boosting sales in other divisions. This new technology does not. From a business point of view, what was Sony thinking?

Then there’s the audio on the DVD side. Sony decided to throw in the towel on their hi-res SACD format for their competitors’ DVD-Audio or 5.1 surround. After spending millions on a terrific hardware/software format, they’ve just given up. The latest SACDs play on both CD and SACD players — and many times, they cost the same as the CD version. Why didn’t Sony add a DVD side to that disc? Hopefully, some other company will add SACD audio to their DualDiscs.

BMG, EMI, Warner Music Group, and Universal are joining Sony in marketing these discs. The big test will come at the end of April when the new Bruce Springsteen album is released only on DualDisc, not CD. I’m hoping the album is released on vinyl too. That just might be the version to hear.

MORE FROM TECH AND GADGETS

Tech and gadgets Section Front

Hey, Tiger Woods: Why so dumb about tech? Teen Internet addicts more likely to self harm Will CrunchPad re-emerge with new name? AP source: Apple in talks to buy Lala.com Microsoft, Yahoo seal search deal 10 iPhone apps for the holidays that sparkle Digital photo frames not always a ‘snap’ to use Groom creates viral storm tweeting from altar Jury gets case of blogger accused of threats Beware of online ‘Breaking Dawn’ casting scam Tech and gadgets Section Front   Add Tech and gadgets headlines to your news reader: