I have posted this before - I have a fantasy that I developed when I found out that LaserDisc was actually analog. I am so used to associate optical with digital because of CD/DVD/Bluray/SACD that did not even think that they are not necessarily tied - kind of a surprise.
I KNOW that the time for something like this has passed - but still holding out hope someone might try it, so I keep posting and re-posting the idea - hope it makes sense
Take the LaserDisc, Ditch video so all bandwidth is dedicated to music to use it as an analog music platform. Optical should solve most of the issues associated with records and tape (for consumer music consumption, that is). We would have the HUGE surface so we can keep our beautiful 12 inch covers. No backward compatibility of course (as opposed to the laser cartridges some companies came up with so you could play our old LPs,
as someone posted after this [edit] ) but that is fine, there more pros than cons to use optical.
Obviously that time for this... well, to say it has passed it's wrong... it never came! I did after all, back in the 80s, almost immediately ditched vinyl for the CD.
Just an idea, if it is dumb, so be it!