I voted yes because I have been paying more, imho. $30 for a disc is very expensive if you ask me. Granted I typically get most of them for less. I even spend that on titles that aren't my cup of tea, just to support the releases. I don't want to show my displeasure of the the format by boycotting the releases, as I am thankful that there are new releases. Rather I think a poll like this or some type of positive feedback with the caveat of releasing more mainstream music would be more constructive.
I used to wish that someone like Taylor Swift would get on board with hi res and/or surround releases, but ultimately realized what a waste that would be. The younger generation doesn't care for quality as shown by the popularity of ****** headphones and playback devices, not home stereo or theater systems, and in mp3 formats. My kids love the surround music I occasionally play for them, and i have expanded their listening genres a bit in doing so, but it is not something that is of particular interest to them. Even my friends love it, but they would never invest what I have to hear it the same way. I have attempted to persuade them, and others, to get some new bda surround music and use their cheap home theater cube surround speakers just to hear the separation. Even that simple of a thing seems to be too much because the next feedback I get is that the releases are way too expensive. I can persuade and convince them with a lot of things, but can't rationalize or justify to them about having to pay 2 to 3 times as much for bda as the regular cd cost. No matter who the artist would be. That has been my typical brick wall so to speak. I have convinced by letting them hear my setup, talking about how great Hi Rez surround music is, but the price point ruins my whole sales pitch.
So my yes vote in reality has been overwhelmingly defeated by people not on this site that never bought anything in surround because they never will due to the price point of the media, much less a better home stereo setup. I know this may be a bit off point, but I thought about this after i voted and wanted to throw this variable in there as well. We here will typically see things differently because of a passion we have, and I wanted to share my experience with others concerning this. Honestly, i don'tknow if there is a price at which they would purchase surround music. And I am positive they can't or won't upgrade any equipment to make it sound even better. I posted a suggestion quite a while ago on SW's page here about advertising his music on Blu ray movie discs with the movie previews, thinking that he could have a screen with some info showing while one or more of his songs plays in surround, with his excellent separation and quality. I thought that would be a great way to expose potentially milions of people to surround music. Surely someone who heard it would be interested and join our ranks, but alas, it hasn't happened....yet. i still stand by that but obviously don't know the cost effectiveness or practicality of it.
Regardless, to me the bottom line is that there is a small market for surround music. Clearly the record companies and artists know we exist and that we already do spend more for the higher quality and surround releases. Some get it and appreciate us for trying to hear their music they way they want it to be heard and others are greedy or don't care. Either way, we are not enough to dictate much so we take what is delivered to us and like it, or not. Hopefully a poll like this will help show whomever reads it how we feel and why. Just my thoughts, all 100000000 words of it