Mgottlieb is right, most of your questions have been answered. IMO, the above responses are dead on. The HDCD product IS clearly a step up from 16-bit redbook.
The only point worthy of further consideration or awareness is a sense of where HDCD may be going in the future, with all of the format wars now going on. T_bone is correct, the HDCD format was developed by Pacific Microsonics. However, Pacific Microsonics was purchased........by Microsoft. It seems reasonable to think that we will hear more about HDCD from their obviously successful marketing machine.
The only point worthy of further consideration or awareness is a sense of where HDCD may be going in the future, with all of the format wars now going on. T_bone is correct, the HDCD format was developed by Pacific Microsonics. However, Pacific Microsonics was purchased........by Microsoft. It seems reasonable to think that we will hear more about HDCD from their obviously successful marketing machine.