I don’t think that is why those formats didn’t take off. Most people are simply not audiophiles who listen to very fine music in an expensive home theater system. They may want better graphics or tv resolution but they aren’t so interested in higher audio quality.
True. If that were the case, then Napster and the p2p programs would never have taken off, and we’d be talking about DVD-Audio players being the portable music device of choice instead of the iPod.
I’m with you, those formats didn’t take off because the discs themselves were expensive, they needed expensive equipment to play them, more expensive equipment to process that outbound signal with enough fidelity for a serious audiophile to tell the difference, and a serious audiophile to tell the difference. Most music purchases are destined to be background music people have on while driving, working, exercising or otherwise not paying rapt attention to the music. Which really aren’t circumstances that inspire people to drop a lot of money on equipment and media.