Why Next-Gen Formats Have an Uphill Battle

Blu-ray and HD DVD are among the greatest things to happen to my little subculture, the audio/video community, since the debut of HDTV. They’re also among the most disappointing.

Though most format wars originate in a scramble for licensing revenue, every one has its own trajectory. The one between SACD and DVD-Audio ended up killing both formats while leaving the obsolete CD format still standing—much to the disgust of high-end audiophiles hungry for something as good as vinyl..