DualDisc Format Gains Footing

[Jeremy Charette]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://news.designtechnica.com/article8114.html' target='_blank'>http://news.designtechnica.com/article8114.html</a><br /><br /></div><i>"DualDisc, that hybrid disc technology which integrates music and video features, has made some market penetration, accounting for about two percent of total CD sales since being introduced in last year’s fourth quarter. This is according to a recent report prepared by research firm NPD. The report, which was put together at the request of the National Association of Recording Merchandisers, showed that more than a quarter of recent music buyers were aware of the format. Of those, nearly 60 percent said they expected to buy at least one DualDisc in the next six months."</i><br /><br />I've seen these in the stores, but I've never bought one. Usually I buy a CD, rip the music to my computer, then put the CD away. I rarely take it out of my CD album, if ever. I can see the usefulness of "behind the scenes" extras on a DVD, but for audio entertainment like CDs, extra visuals seem to be a bit unnecessary.

[sojourner753]

To be honest, I've never cared for "behind the scenes" features on DVDs, CDs, or TV shows.

I supposed if I was into graphic design and photography I might.

[James Fee]

I remember when I posted about these coming many months ago, I said how could people fall for this! Most people who did post in that thread said they would be interested in them and it looks like that happened.

I still don't see how anyone could want this kind of stuff considering that you have to put it in a DVD player, but what do I know? :oops:

[Jason Dunn]

I don't grasp why you guys are opposing this - I've bought a couple of DualDiscs and they're no more expensive than regular discs, so what's the problem if you get extra stuff for free? This is the studio's effort to make CDs more appealing and worth the money versus people downloading it from Limewire - so I applaud this move if it means I get more for my money. I'm pretty disillusioned with download-only music now as well, so I'm back to buying more CDs.

[Felix Torres]

I recently bought my first duo-disk.
It cost exactly the same as the cd-only version of the same album.
For that extra investment of $0.00, I got a music video for the first single off the album, a "making of the video" documentary, and a video interview with the singer. Plus, the dvd side included the full album in 5.1 audio, with concurrent lyrics in your choice of spanish or english.

What did I miss out on?
Well, the disc doesn't have any graphics on either side. (boo-hoo!)
But the CD-side plays in my car cd-changer just fine; I've tried it on three PCs and works just fine everywhere.
In other words, I lost nothing and gained a few nice goodies!

How dare SONY/Epic do this! :roll:

Do remember that a pure CD edition was released concurrently.
An experiment to see what buyers like.
And a good test, too, cause the singer in question is Shakira and the CD has already sold several million copies.

Now, I realize some folks don't like change, and some folks prefer to see only *their* kind of change, but Me, while I never would've thought to ask for this bit of tech evolution, I think I can live with it.

I *would* be interested in seeing the sales split for the album...
Too bad Sony is unlikely to be publishing those numbers...

BTW, at 2% market penetration, duo-disk is already the equal of all the online music stores combined... 8)

[sojourner753]

I don't grasp why you guys are opposing this

Don't get me wrong. I'm not opposed to it. Just not very interested. As long as it doesn't effect my consumption then "each to his own".

Matter of fact, if it helps to ensure the life of CDs then more power to them.

[Jon Childs]

I don't grasp why you guys are opposing this - I've bought a couple of DualDiscs and they're no more expensive than regular discs, so what's the problem if you get extra stuff for free? This is the studio's effort to make CDs more appealing and worth the money versus people downloading it from Limewire - so I applaud this move if it means I get more for my money. I'm pretty disillusioned with download-only music now as well, so I'm back to buying more CDs.

In general I am all for improving on CDs, but they dont work in the built in CD player in my 2002 Volvo so its kind of a pain to have to rip then and burn then to a regular CD.

[Jason Dunn]

In general I am all for improving on CDs, but they dont work in the built in CD player in my 2002 Volvo so its kind of a pain to have to rip then and burn then to a regular CD.

Ouch! Yeah, that's a very valid point - I didn't know these discs were less compatible then regular CDs. I guess I shouldn't be surprised by that though. :roll:

[Jason Dunn]

I can't play/rip the CD Audio from these disc's on my computer either. I'm steering clear. :evil:

Really? Is it perhaps MediaMax protection? Here's how to bypass it:

http://www.cs.princeton.edu/~jhalderm/cd3/