I'm interested in music, not home theater. Am I wasting my money buying a receiver with Dolby Digital and other types of surround decoding?

Look for a receiver that has everything you need in terms of quantity and quality of power, inputs and outputs for connecting your components, and price. That's more important than choosing between a stereo and home theater model. Home theater's popularity has resulted in more and more receivers (even inexpensive models) that include Dolby Digital processing. Since the surround sound decoder only accounts for a relatively small percentage of the cost, certainly don't avoid a receiver that's perfect for you in every other way just because it's multichannel. Additionally, the multichannel capabilities of a home theater receiver can offer benefits even to the hardcore music-only fan. Two high-resolution audio formats, SACD and DVD-Audio, are capable of delivering audio in the same 5.1-channel speaker configuration employed by Dolby Digital. A stereo receiver won't let you enjoy such discs in their full multichannel glory, but a home theater receiver equipped with a 5.1-channel input ...  more

If the receiver has everything you're looking for in terms of quantity and quality of power, inputs and outputs for connecting all your components, convenience features, and price, then it's definitely not a waste of money.  more