In Australia, we're beginning to see DVDplus discs that can hold a full-length audio album on the red-coded CD side while the blue-coded DVD side can provide up to two hours of video.
And it's not just CD-audio and DVD-video. They can also contain DVD-audio, CD-ROM and other formats, even high-definition Blu-ray in the future.
The new limited-edition "Digipack" of Double Happiness by Jimmy Barnes has ignited local interest in the format. On the CD side are 12 duets, and on the DVD side is a 37-minute documentary, The Making of Double Happiness.
DVDplus discs are similar to DualDiscs in the US. In fact, they derive from the same patent but have slightly different specifications.
Dieter Dierks is the global patent holder for hybrid dual-disks, whether they be CD/DVD or CD/Blu-ray. He, Warner Music Group and Aussie Stephen Millard - the former senior director of marketing of Sony Music Australia's Epic Music Group - all had the same idea at the same time.
"Dierks ended up buying all of Warner's patents because they could not get the (DualDisc) to function."
And that's where hybrid discs got a bad name. The DualDisc's audio layer is similar to a CD's but doesn't follow the Red Book CD specifications. Because of this, some CD players are not able to play the CD side. In fact, at one point Philips and Sony refused to allow DualDisc titles to carry the CD logo.
Add to this the public disclaimer by several audio brands, including Onkyo and Pioneer, warning DualDiscs can jam the mechanism of some of their home and car CD players, and it's not all smooth sailing.
Despite this, driven by falling CD sales and worldwide calls for all music labels to drop the price of albums, Sony saw mileage in a new format. It's now picked up the DualDisc ball and run with it, releasing dozens of albums.
On the other hand, DVDplus is thinner, meaning it should play in 98 per cent of all players, and has a full 80-minute side of CD content, in comparison to 63 minutes.
"The success of this Jimmy Barnes album has clearly ignited the possibilities of DVDplus in this market place," Millard says.
We've also been listening to and watching 2002's Mix FM Australia's Best Mix, Volume 1 from 20th Century Fox.
This has 14 CD audio tracks on one side and 21 video clips with artists' bios on the other.
But while putting music on one side and music videos or documentaries on the other has its merits, DVDplus is really expected to come into its own when publishers combine full-length movies with their soundtrack, or movies with their accompanying video games, such as Tomb Raider or Spider-Man.
Millard says Fox called him recently, saying they wanted to rebirth many of their movies with the soundtrack on the other side.
But this is just the beginning of the hybrid-disc saga, he adds.
"Our next disc is an updateable version - you can download content and add it to the original album.
"Say the Jimmy Barnes album was an updateable version. Liberation would put it on the street as usual, but it would allow Jimmy to create new video clips, do interviews, go on the road, perform live and offer this content to his fan base. They would go online and add it to the original collectable.
"He could perform live at a concert and say, 'Thanks for coming tonight, folks. Anyone who owns my album already, please go online tomorrow and we'll give you two free tracks from tonight to remember the evening by'.
"In sport the updateable will be huge," Millard adds. "You could buy the State-of-Origin DVD before the game starts, watch the history of the game, then download each game as they're played and add them to your collectable."
But most importantly for the future of recorded music, all the way, the content owner retains ownership of that content through digital rights management and copy protection.
