2009 served up plenty of pleasant surprises but also head-shaking disappointments too. Here is my top five epic fails of the year, led by the lowering of sonic fidelity, some computing complaints, Blu-Ray failures, gaming gaffs, and OLED delays.

1. Rise of Low-Fi Sound: For audiophiles, 2009 was yet another year that we took a beating. We were expecting SACD or DVD-A to replace CD; instead, consumers helped further the compression of digital music via mammoth iTunes MP3/AAC sales. Since many consumers are now buying lousy music that is inferior to WAV, audiophiles not only did not take a step forwards but were pushed back several decades. I spent nearly my small fortune getting into vinyl late last year, but that is the price we pay for hi-fi. Every new iPod makes little to marginal sonic improvements. Rather than use the space for upgrading the amp and DAC sections of music players, manufacturers add gratuitous junk like cameras. Do not get me started about the quality of stock earbuds included with all portable music players.

2. Computing: Despite the dreams of Apple fanboys, Steve Jobs did not unveil a tablet or a quad-core MacBook Pro; however, be patient, Apple will eventually launch the aforementioned two fantasies. One gripe that I have about the brilliant Mac OS X Snow Leopard is that it is Ram hungry, far moreso than Windows 7. While Windows 7 is now truly a good 21st century OS, Microsoft needs to hire better graphics designers because the Vista glass look is becoming tiresome.

3. Blu-Ray: When Blu-Ray knocked off HD-DVD in the battle for hi-def supremacy, most videophiles were hopeful that DVD would quickly enter extinction; however, in 2009 Blu-Ray player (not including the PS3) and disc sales were mediocre. With the current high prices of new Blu-Ray releases and limited selection (still no Lord of the Rings trilogy, Finding Nemo, or The Incredibles), 2010 will probably be the year of 480p and 720p downloads from iTunes and other providers, while a majority of discs sold will be in DVD format.

4. Gaming: I was not terribly excited about Modern Warfare 2, but its blistering sales on the 360 and the PS3 proved that millions were aching for it. Infinity Ward really sucker punched PC gamers by crippling the Windows’ version of multiplayer. The single-player campaign is also fairly weak. My personal biggest gaming disappointment of the year is the delay of BioShock 2, which was slated for a fall release. Meanwhile, third party developers continued to spew out endless garbage Wii games. The console’s lack of innovation and slightly sagging sales have Nintendo pondering hardware refresh (Wii HD) to boost sales.

5. OLED Delay: Sony was the at the forefront of OLED development, but despite its announcement of a 27″ OLED television in 2009, the product never launched. Suffering its fifth straight year of financial losses, Sony cannot afford to lose more money by pushing a new technology like OLED, so the company is restructuring and will be focusing on budget LCD products in 2010. LG has announced a 15″ OLED TV for the Far East, but Samsung is the only company set to showcase (probably at CES) a large - in this case, 31″ - OLED display in the foreseeable future. Do not get your spirits up though because Samsung does not intend to be selling the TV until 2012. If you do not know the advantages of OLED over LCD and plasma, then Google the facts. The good news is that 1080p plasma TVs have become ridiculously affordable, and LED LCD HDTVs (holy initialisms, Batman!) should drop drastically in price by Christmas 2010.