Backstreet's Back (All Right)

To publically unveil one more ebarressing hobby of mine, I have to admit that I love the Backstreet Boys. Yeah, their songs are sugary, most of the songs are about the same thing, and yes, I'm fully aware that the Backstreet Boys are far from the "in thing" these days. I don't care, I like the Backstreet Boys, and I don't care if you shun me for it. Yesterday, after a four year hiatus, the Backstreet Boys newest album, "Never Gone" (think they're trying to tell us something?), was released. I bought the CD at Best Buy, which is something I normally wouldn't do, but it was cheap there (me and Best Buy have issues). While the CD was pretty decent, the one thing that was different about this CD was that it was one of those new "DuelDisk" CD's.

For those who are unaware of what a DuelDisk is, it is basically the record companies new attempt to get people to start buying CD's again. With the re-launch of Napster and the huge success that is iTunes, record companies are starting to feel a little left out. This DuelDisk thing is their plan to get people to buying CD's again. So what's the big deal about the DuelDisk? Well, one sides the CD, and the other side is a DVD. That's about it really. On the DVD of this CD I got a Backstreet Boys music video, and a chance to play the CD in Dolby 5.1 Surround Sound. I must admit, it sounded REALLY good in surround (better then you think it would)! This got me to thinking about the potential of DuelDisk. What if people didn't have to buy DVD's of music videos for their favorite artists seperatly?

What if you could fit some concert tour videos on this DVD from time-to-time? If this DuelDisk is utiliazed properly, it could definetly get people interested in CD's again (at least until the next big distraction comes around). Of course, right now my biggest concern is that this disk looks REALLY easy to scratch! While I have an MP3 Player and can play the songs off of that, for the people who don't handle their CD's perfectly, this new disk may be a bit of a put off for them.

I don't want to name names, but I know of a couple of my friends who have expressed frustration because they somehow got scratches on their CD's, and they don't even know what they did (and at least one of my friends lost his car CD player by inserting his Simple Plan CD in it, which means that if you have a fairly old CD player in your car you might want to reconsider putting your DuelDisk in it). Hopefully the record companies can figure out a solution to this problem. Oh well, until I get more hands on info about this DuelDisk thing, I'll be listening to my new Backstreet Boys CD.