There's been a couple of releases that came out recently on DualDisc -- opinions? Get? Avoid? They suck anyway, just download the fuckers? Shoplift? I got the God Forbid, just because it didn't come out in any other format, but for the Fiona Apple and the Franz Ferdinand, I'm thinking of just hopping up top to the used shop and seeing if I can find the CDs there.

My car is a slot-load player; my computers are "normal" drawer-type drives; my CD players are (currently) carousel-type players (both Sony [both==work && home]).

cool concept, but if i have troubles ripping and playing the damn thing, it ain't worth it. (aka, it aint worth it)

I avoid them whenever possible.

I prefer reliablity over extra content.

ditto. plus, i really only buy music for the music. i rarely watch tv, so a few videos and interviews or whatever don't do much for me.

I try to avoid them, but the upcoming Talking Heads remasters (non-brick, I mean) are DualDisc only, so I'll probably give in and buy the ones I want. As for how well they work, it's hit and miss - some players will handle them, others won't. It depends on how closely your player adheres to the Redbook standards - in reading up on the subject, it appears that the better your CD player, CDRom, etc., the more likely you are to have issues. I have experience with precisely one DualDisc, Ben Folds' new album:

In car: worked fine
Brand new, high quality DVD-RW: would not read
6 year old DVD reader: worked fine, was able to rip
DVD player: worked fine

I was so annoyed at it not working in my brand new, fast DVD-RW that I took the thing back and got the "deluxe" version that had a separate CD and DVD, which worked perfectly, as expected. Too bad I have listened to the album like 6 times since then. All that effort . . .

I've only got one. I bought the new Fiona Apple on DualDisc.

I haven't had any problems with it. I play all my CDs on my DVD player and my player plays both sides of the disc fine.

This one actually had the full length album on both sides so even if the "CD" side doesn't work the DVD will still play in any DVD player since it's using the DVD standard.

I guess the audio only side isn't the normal CD format so some CD players won't read them.

Anyway, the disc I bought was only $1 more and it's got some cool video footage. I'd buy others.

Have you tried it? I thought it was only hi-rez surround sound, not stereo-compatible audio on the DVD side.

Well, technically, no it violates the DVD standard as well. The issue is not with format, but with the actual thickness of the disk, and related issues, including having two disks back-to-back, effectively.

Yes, I've played the DVD audio, it's mixed in 5.1 surround or something like that. I just have a normal surround sound system so I don't get the benefits of the fancy mix, but it does play.

Yeah, I don't know about the tech stuff. All I know is from the info. on the little info. card that came with the disc. It said it wouldn't play in all CD players but that the DVD side would play in any player set to read DVD format. I just figured that meant it was standard DVD format.

What I mean is, play it as stereo through a non-surround system.

DualDiscs are terrible pieces of crap.

I buy a cd version over them whenever possible. Such as with the new Fiona.

If only DualDisc is available, I won't buy the album. Download and burn, if need be.

Oh, gotcha. I haven't tried that.

I actually had a dream once that I discovered that dualdiscs were actually two discs glued together and when I pulled them apart the other side of each had a label like you would find on any disc. When I woke up I tried to do this but all I ended up doing was getting fingerprints on the sides.

stoopid. what a ridiculous waste of money. record co.'s trying to justify their costs.

Alright, verdict is in: pass on the DualDisc versions, get the CDs. Tx, y'all.

I think it's sad how SACDs never caught on. Those things are actually worth owning and play on anything.