The healthy trend for the audio market continues: the <A HREF="http://www.ce.org">Consumer Electronics Association</A> reported last week that revenues from factory shipments of audio products to dealers this February increased by 8% over last February, to a total of $542 million. "The fantastic sales in February spurred the year-to-date total for audio sales to more than $1 billion; a 6% increase over the first two months of 1999," said the CEA.
The world's two largest and most active music clubs may become one if preliminary talks between their parent companies bear fruit. <A HREF="http://www.timewarner.com/">Time Warner Inc.</A> and Germany's <A HREF="http://www.bertelsmann.de">Bertelsmann AG</A> have conducted discussions with that outcome in mind, according to several reports appearing in late April.
The numbers are looking better for <A HREF="http://www.mp3.com/">MP3.com</A>, the music-archiving site under <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/news/10657/">attack</A> by the Recording Industries Association of America and its <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/news/10708/">allies</A>. Despite the legal pressure, MP3.com has seen its revenues surge as the popularity of downloadable music continues to grow. On April 20, the San Diego–based company reported that its revenue increased to $17.5 million for the first quarter of 2000 compared to $666,000 for the same period a year earlier. MP3.com now has 10 million registered users, according to CEO Michael Robertson.
The original PSB Alpha was reviewed for <I>Stereophile</I> by Jack English in July 1992 (Vol.15 No.7). A modest-looking two-way priced at just $199/pair, it combined a reflex-loaded 6.5" woofer using a plastic-doped paper cone with a 0.5" plastic-dome tweeter. JE summed up the Alpha by saying it "is simply one of the best buys in audio, providing a musically satisfying sound...a sensational audio bargain." It went on to become one of the best-selling audiophile speakers ever, with over 50,000 pairs sold.
Conventional wisdom has it that older audiophiles are not being joined by young 'uns. We're curious to test the theory online.
They may sing about death and destruction, releasing albums with titles such as 1983's <I>Kill 'em All</I>, but underneath the menacing exteriors, <A HREF="http://www.metallica.com">Metallica</A> is really just a group of sensitive artists.
After the bungled launch last year of DVD-Audio, where is a digital audiophile to turn? John Atklinson provides some answers in "<A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com//asweseeit/219/">Talkin' 'Bout a Revolution</A>," from the April 2000 <I>Stereophile</I>. "So while the DVD Forum argues about increasingly arcane aspects of the DVD-Audio medium, and John Lennon's record-industry 'men in suits' retreat further into their lawyer-built fortresses, I have bypassed all they have to offer . . . "
It's not uncommon for bootleggers to record live performances of favorite artists and then send copies of the tapes around the world. But in an interesting twist that could add a whole new dimension to concert merchandising, the Virgin Entertainment Group and Liquid Audio recently teamed up to record a live performance by the Joshua Redman Quartet at the Virgin Megastore in San Francisco. The recording was then immediately digitized and burned onto CD.
Congress has blocked a controversial plan that might have launched approximately 1000 low-power community radio stations. On Thursday, April 14, the US House of Representatives voted 274-110 in favor of a bill that would effectively kill development of about 80% of the stations. The vote was a blow to Federal Communications Commission chairman William Kennard, who has been a staunch supporter of the community radio movement, and a gift to the National Association of Broadcasters, which has long opposed low-power radio.
A single standard for terrestrial digital radio is still somewhere over the rainbow. Despite pressure from broadcasters to form an industry alliance, leading developers of the new technology are intent on pursuing their own courses, attendees learned at the 2000 <A HREF="http://www.nab.org/">National Association of Broadcasters</A> convention in Las Vegas in mid-April. Executives from <A HREF="http://www.usadr.com/">USA Digital Radio</A> and <A HREF="http://www.lucentdigitalradio.com/">Lucent Digital Radio</A>, the two biggest players in the sector, told NAB members that their design and testing programs are still in early stages of development, too soon for accord.