I am getting sick of CDs.  They sound like crap and have always sounded like crap.  They are fine for rap and any music that uses fake computer instruments, but I listen to classic rock.  Vinyl sounds better to me, and I don't care if they have less dynamic range.  It is analog directly from a high resolution studio source.  CDs also sound like crap because studios are making every sound the loudest that can possibly be, compressing the dynamic range to far below the theoretical dynamic range of vinyl, anyway.  My solution: my own standard, using DVD media as storage.  Studios would have to pass tests for that album to release it under this standard.  If they don't follow the rules and just slap a name on it, they will get bombed!  Metallica's last album, Death Magnetic, is a very loud album.  The CD is horrible, and the vinyl appears to be mastered from the CD, with just a tad bit less loudness.  The producer, Rick Rubin, gawks at criticisms about this and basically says that what he did was awesome and the loudness coincides with the type of music it is, and that only a minority complained about it.  Well this may be acceptable for the CD, but to release a vinyl that sounds like crap, and for people to pay over $100 for that, this is unacceptable.  That moron should be shot, but instead he was awarded a Grammy for "Producer of the Year."

The details:

• Name: .segl (pronounced "dot seagull")
• Format: 24 bit / 192 khz PCM stereo
• Medium: DVD9, About 2h:03m of room
• NO DRC or LOUDNESS WAR: This is the most important.  Good mastering is what makes music sound good.  Music with crazy DRC and complete loudness sounds like crap.
• The loudest point on the whole album shall be -3 dB from peak.
• Players should buffer ahead for layer change of DVD.

An even better format would be the same thing, but on a flash memory device of 8 GB.  Who gives a crap about copy protection?  Those schemes get broken by hackers in hours anyway, and it's just a waste to spend additional money on things that will get hacked.  Even people who download illegally don't give a crap about quality.  Most everything pop music out there is just 128 kbit VBR mp3.  Ripping from a source like this would make no difference to quality when compressed that much.  This would be an audiophile format, and should cost a little more just to try to ward off piracy.  My thoughts are that if you make good music, people will support you by buying your albums and going to your shows.  No artist ever went broke from having music being pirated.  If an artists cares so much about money and piracy, they suck anyway and are full of themselves.