Just seem to be re-issues of old titles unfortunately. I'd happily keep supporting this format if they'd just put out some different titles, although I'm pleased the Queen ones are back as I'd still like a few of those. One they could reissue that I would be grateful for is Olivia's Come On Over. A shall I or shan't I non purchase a few years ago.
Being as you aren't a fan of ballads, I'd recommend 'shan't' to Come On Over. It's one of her least appetising albums of the 70s. Very somber and downbeat. It's beautiful in it's own way, but it's the last of her peak albums I would have chosen for SACD.
I'm just listening to the regular CD of it at the moment for the first time. Even the SHM is super expensive.
Olivia's 2 SACDs were only released once. Mostly they get reissued in jewel cases, but the ONJ ones took a long while to sell out the first time so I suppose they didn't bother with a second run. COO sounds nice, but you'll soon know if you like it enough to go for the SHM or SACD. I will say the album was recorded so well that every edition sounds great. The SACD didn't offered a huge improvement because the album never sounded bad to begin with. Great sleeve, though!
That's not bad then. For some reason, this album has stayed in print forever. In the States, most of her biggest selling albums were deleted quickly on CD. COO only reached #12 and has always been around. Weird.
But (I hope) that might change one day. As the vinyl gets harder to find and CD sales are tanking maybe the physical "go to" format will be SACD.
It picked up a few years ago. There was a good run in Japan of stuff like Breakfast In America, Brothers In Arms, the Bryan Ferry/Roxy Music albums, John Lennon, Queen, Carpenters, Stones, etc.. Now it's gone a bit quiet. Aside from MOFI and AF who still put titles out. I hope you're right and that SACD does become the dominant force for hi res titles. I thought Blu Ray Audio might be a contender, but that seems to be doing worse than SACD!
To answer the original question...yes, I'm surprised at the growth of SACD given that in 2003~2004 it looked as though it was dead. But let's face it, it is presently a niche market and will remain a niche market. Most people don't know what an SACD is, don't have an SACD player or have ever listened to an SACD. Every SACD since 2003, that I own, has been imported from either Japan or USA. There are no stores in Canada, with the exception of Amazon.CA, that sells SACD. Thank god for Amazon.ca; otherwise, I wouldn't have very many titles.
I'm just happy that a few select titles trickle out these days. Ordered "I, ROBOT" by the Alan Parsons Project and Stealer´s Wheel debut album. Waiting for more by both artists.
My enthusiasm for SACD has increased hugely since the discovery of the new Oppo ISO ripping method. I've ripped my entire SACD collection for portable use and am eagerly searching for more to buy. Those in the recorded music industry are probably less delighted by the discovery, but if only they'd see through their blinkers, they'd realise that there's money to be made by selling SACDs by the truckload to people like me. Rightly or wrongly, downloads are probably the future of recorded music retail, but there are still plenty of us who like the tangible artifact.
One of the last ones I bought was Celine Dion's Falling Into You. I thought I'd get it before it went OOP.
I had just heard about this a few days ago...pretty sweet for those with the hardware (I have a SONY player so I guess I'm still SOOL).
I am hoping this lowers the price of the format. But I agree...being able to store the files on my NAS makes it ever more convenient to listen to the music. Perhaps this will lead to more DSD format downloads too as physical digital media will slowly die out over time.
There are currently 3 plants pressing SACDs....Japan, Austria (often labeled as "EU"), and Germany. Maybe, one day, demand will force Sony to fire up the Terre Haute, Indiana SACD production lines again.
Btw, I will try to work the stats for 2016. I wonder how it will compare with last year, which for all indications, was SACD's biggest year, in terms of releases.
Is that the BDP-80FD, or is there something even more budget-friendly? I don't have a lot of SACD's, but if there's a fairly cheap solution to rip these things now, I might consider the option + consider expanding the titles I have. One of my biggest concerns over SACD was always the inability (except the hard-to-find and expensive PS3 hardware) to back them up / make them available on a NAS or other device.