CULTURAS IN VITRO
Beyond the CD: A Bid to Burnish Records' Sheen
The discs in question are not in the 20-year-old CD format but in two more advanced forms: SACD (for super audio compact disc) and DVD-Audio. Both contain music remastered in high-resolution digital audio, often in cinematic surround sound, like DVD movies. Although the two formats have been around for several years, such discs were priced much higher than normal CD's and tucked into specialty racks found only in larger record shops. Figuring out what machines could play them has generally been confusing, or at least obscure.
But now the record industry is giving new priority to these feature-rich audio discs.