I see some of you put off the SACD/DVD-A analogy. I still feel that the situation is similar. People wanted MP3 rips for their harddisks and iPods. For a while they have also preferred DiVX to DVD. I have several friends who - in addition to downloading illegally - rip their DVDs to DivX the moment they buy them (it takes just a few minutes with the right software on a modern PC). For convenience, space saving and taking their favorite movies on the road.

I will indeed be very surprised if the consumer behaves otherwise when HD-DVD or Blue-Ray comes to a shop near them. They will find out it's unrippable, and turn away.

HD will, as HiFi, remain an aqured taste for a tiny minority. The majority will always find mediocrity "good enough".

When CDs replaced LPs and cassetters it happenend partly because of brute force (the record companies stopped producing LPs) and the fact that it WAS a huge improvement. Most people owned really bad LP systems, and even the half-deaf could hear that LP was vastly superior to a needle full of dust.

The DVD replacement of VHS is similar, even if you this time dinn't have a bunch of home theatre freaks complaining about DVD quality and clinging to their old cassettes...

My point is that when a reasonable combination of quality, price and convenience is reached, people will be hard pressed to switch to another format.

Current M-related equipment: DSP7000 (2), G91A FM, Sonos ZP90/ZP80 Zone Players, F80 (kitchen,yellow).