Not sure if this is a new thread or a continuation of Khorn's "are there enough of us", but here goes.
I was in York (UK) yesterday, with an HMV voucher to spend and three other specialist and chain record shops to browse in for SACD's, the first chance for a good city-wide browse i've had for months. I should add that i buy all my SACDs and cds on the web and only buy from stores when they have a sale on or I'm nearby and curious.
Anyway, HMV had exactly one classical SACD (Manze-Mozart, which has the execrable Musical Joke on, so is a waste of money) and one pop (Pink Floyd). They'd order in but not stock. Then Virgin, - not a single Classical SACD. Then Borders, - which has a pretty good classical section. Saw no SACDs, but lots of redbook copies of performances available on SACD incl. Hybrids.
So why not stock the Hybrid you may well ask, as did I, to be told "no demand".
Found one disc I was thrilled to get, cos I was going to order anyway, Scarlatti's Griselda, at a specialist music suppliers called Brown's (who had marked it down to the same price as amazon, 27.99). A single-inventory set so anyone stocking the title automatically stocks the SACD.
That was it, my sole success in a City with four stores in its centre (York's best record store is a second hand specialist within the city walls but not in the retail centre). To be honest, I hadn't expected such a dire situation. How the hell can SACD ever take off with attitudes like HMV, Virgin and Border's? With hybrid discs, what the hell are the record companies themselves doing releasing dual format stock?
To add insult to injury, I spent my HMV voucher at an associated bookshop and bought the new Pengin 03/04 Guide. It "reviews" (briefly mentions) some 70 SACDs BUT reviews a whole lot more if you count redbook cds of prformances also released on SACD. However, the guide fails to mention that ANY of these discs, (on Hyperion, Chandos, Sony) are available as either Hybrids or single format SACDs. So, naturally, no comment on the superior sound given those performances. If the hugely influential Penguin guide can't be bothered, how will we ever generate the consumer pressure to get indolent and unimaginatve chain stores and specialist shops to stock SACD?
Thank god for the net, but surely the record companies themselves can do better re. release policies (single inventory), press releases, letters to Penguin guide editors, pressure on stores, etc etc and, of course (and this applies especially to Sony) competitive pricing at rebdook cd prices (at least until sales take off and then they can squeeze us some more).
Big, big sigh. Sign off.
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