PlayStation 4 - Page 9

LOL, is that 100% confirmed and official or what? Are they for real? I understand and actually expected them to not support SACD since it's a feature they had in early PS3s then got removed later, but comeon even the PS1 supports audio CDs lol

Listening to your own music while playing video games is kind of a big deal, I still think CD support will be included, it's just too silly not to.

That's a Japanese journalist who claims that Sony said this to him. So at this point, that makes it a rumor. Far from official.

I can't read japanese, but I don't think that's a huge deal. How many people put CDs in their playstation?

What are these CD's you speak of?

Well almost all BD drives support CD playback, so unless they just won't support it via software, there's really no reason for this.

Wondering if it's a translation goof where he was inferring SACD won't be in, which makes sense. Pretty sure you need both a hardware chip (relatively cheap) and a special BD drive (expensive) to get SACD decoding.

I am translating it myself, the final line is very basic Japanese. It clearly says In an interview with SCE the Playstation 4 in regards to SACD and CD Support Do Not (shimasen is what is used, which translates roughly as do not, it is pretty blunt)

There are two Kanji I would need to look up to fully translate it (edit, they are a family surname and stating this happened as the interview ended), but the rest of it is very clear.
Edited by PENDRAG0ON - 3/3/13 at 2:38pm

I never used PS3 for cd's until recently; then I got Beat Hazard Ultra- a really cool game imo (9.99 @ PS store). It is a space shooter where the targets and the visuals are controlled by the music. It comes with some tracks, but you can play to any tracks you have on your PS. So I've slowly started to import some of my faves- though I'm sure the PS will fill up before I can get even half my cd's imported. The game also comes w/ a cool visualizer, synched to the music, so I can listen to my music and have a visual feast as well. I am playing the hell out of it right now- very fun way to game and enjoy your music at the same time. When the gameplay gets really intense, to do well, you have to "get into the flow" of the music. Check out the trial version, highly recommended.

I find it extremely hard to believe that cd's won't be supported on the PS4; even if they are becoming obsolete as a way of getting new music, there are still huge libraries of cd's out there. Although, I would never use my PS just to listen to music, I imagine a lot might want to- get rid of (or never have to buy) standalone CD, DVD or BR players and use PS for everything.

Out of curiosity, what would be gained by not supporting standard CD playback? Is there a minimal hardware licensing fee?

I actually used the PS3's CD ripping feature quite a bit in the early days, before I understood the concept of streaming/networking via my PC. Now out of laziness I find myself pulling up music I already own on CD on the Music Unlimited service rather than pulling out the CD from my collection (or turning on my PC), even though the quality of the CD playback is WAY better on my system.

I agree, Beat Hazard Ultra is a great little title and an awesome way to rediscover your music collection.

The PS4 not having CD playback may be yet another reason I keep a PS3 connected to my system. We'll see. I really can't tell you the last time I even bought a CD...though I still burn discs to play in my 10-year-old car stereo system.

I think it's not a bad decision. We think of it as losing functionality because we are probably used to using CDs for whatever reason. But people stopped buying CDs. People buy itunes and google and whatever else now. They'd have to pay a licensing fee to be able to play CD, so I guess they save a buck or two.

If it can play FLAC files I'll be good with the change. I never put any music on my PS3 in any case. I did on my xbox 360 because I had one of them first. It was also a new feature to test out. After I think the first year or two having it, I never did again.

My PS3 IS my CD player. I still buy 'em.

The Music Unlimited app now streams in high quality which actually sounds pretty good. Sounds much better than Pandora. If this is their way to save some money and ultimately making the price of the PS4 cheaper, then by all means let's go for it.

LOL! The PS4 is not being made cheaper by the lack of CD support, ok maybe a penny or 2. I doubt Sony has to pay a licensing fee at all since they were one of two companies who helped develop the CD format. The may drop support for it but, I doubt it's because of cost.

Also, lets drop this "nobody buys CDs anymore" because it is just not true. There are some companies that still only sell CDs, specialty labels like La-La Land Records and Intrada are a couple I still buy CDs from. Yes, digital downloads dominates the music industry but CDs are not totally gone yet.

No CD support really doesn't bother me, I still have other devices that can play CDs, including ripping them to flac and streaming them across my network.

No CD support would be a bit shocking. Do we have confirmation of this, or just the article above which could very well be some sort of translation error?

There is no room for a translation error, it is increadibly basic Japanese.

I can't remember the last time I bought or used a CD.

It does seem odd as the only thing needed for CD support, in addition to DVD support, is a special lens to change the wavelength of the laser used to read DVDs. So it is just puzzling that they would include DVD support, but not CD support. Unless of course the trend towards not using CDs very much anymore (since one can use USB sticks with storage well in excess of a CD to transfer data files, and a great deal of music is now distributed digitally in great quantities), means that manufacturers of optical drives are no longer including the hardware needed to read CD Media.

Compact Disc's were invented by Sony and Philips.

Then there would be a licensing fee to Philips. Maybe others too.

Not how it usually works. Those on the Bluray consortium pay no fees for their products.

This really is one giant headscratcher, imo it seems more aimed at not needing disk based PS1 compatibility.

Just out of curiosity, since many are saying they no longer use CDs, well where do you get your digital copies from?

My OCD nature wants lossless audio, so I'm still old fashioned I guess and buy CDs then rip it to FLAC on my PC, AFAIK most digital distributed music isn't lossless (MP3 being the most common format). There are some websites out there that offer lossless tracks, but from what I've seen the available collection isn't very large, I listen to a wide variety of genres and video game OST is one of my favorites, which from my experience isn't widely available as digital downloads.

I buy them cheap or used mostly, but I do have a thing for orchestra movie soundtracks which tend to need to be bought full price. Then I rip them to FLAC.

I do notice a difference between mp3 and FLAC, and id rather control my own collection digitally. MP3 is convenient, but legally encodes are usually small bitrate to keep files down, and illegal encodes vary in quality widley.

No need for the diode for producing the wavelength for CDs? Might a be a cost reduction.

Well, I listen A LOT of music with my PS3, but 90% of it is downloaded from iTunes, however, CD music sounds better, the main reason I listen more downloaded music in stead of CD it´s because the nearest CD store is 25 miles away.

http://www.digitimes.com/news/a20130304PD221.html

Sony wants to ship 16 million PS4s by the end of 2013...

If true then Sony may be launching sooner than we thought and at a lower price point than most people were expecting.

Are you saying that all of that comes in the box with "every" PS4 ? If so, when and where was this confirmed ? I'm assuming as much, but didn't know any of that, especially the move controller ?

I listen to a ton of gaming podcasts (while at work). In addition to the normal set of podcasts that I usually check out, I've been listening to even more podcasts that I don't normally listen to, just to hear their post PS4 announcement shows. I've heard some very good discussions about everything PS4 related.


The most interesting thing however, is the price that people are expecting. People are all over the map with their price predictions. I will say though... that it seems that more and more people are thinking that Sony might try to hit a $399.99 price. To me, that would be the absolute best case scenario. I personally find it hard to believe that the first number won't at least start wth 4. I think $449.99 is the best case scenario, and $499.99 is the most likely scenario but listening to these podcasts, there does seem to be a lot of people that think $399 is somehow realistic.

If Sony really did come in at $399.99, then they are taking a HUGE hit on each console sold. I just don't think they are in a financial condition to get away with it. Not with the camera and the controller, and maybe even a move wand.... all included in the box ? Man, they could be talking a $150 hit on each box sold. Maybe even $200 or $250 depending on the contracts they've worked out with all their suppliers.

That is a lot of technology for $399, I can't see it. I am expecting to pay $500. I figure as long as I have that expectation I can't be disappointed either way.