Formatwatch: Pure Audio

In an attempt to squeak out a few more years from the physical format, Universal are pinning their hopes on Pure Audio, which is basically the third heavy attempt to do a high-quality CD style format after SACD and DVD Audio.

Imagine Pono in a physical format.

Stop staring blankly at me.

Okay, it's a BluRay disc with songs on it.

The BBC News site suggests that it could be something of a success, given how it's performed in France:

Pioneered by Universal Music, it launched in France earlier this year, where the initial batch of 35 titles have already achieved sales of more than 500,000.

One album, Mylene Farmer's Monkey Me, has sold 84,000 copies on Blu-Ray alone - which would be enough to ensure a top 10 placing in the UK charts.

It's sold 84,000 copies on BluRay alone, has it?

Not really, as it's not been available on BluRay alone - the PureAudio version comes with, erm, an ordinary CD and only costs a couple of Euros on top. So it might work as a heavily subsidised up-sell, but hasn't really had a test in its own right yet.