Autosound Frontier: DVD-A
Perhaps even more than the typical living room, the automobile might be considered multichannel audio's natural environment.
Perhaps even more than the typical living room, the automobile might be considered multichannel audio's natural environment.
The sales slump currently bedeviling the record industry has been blamed on everything from 9/11 to bad music to CD pirates and MP3 file-swapping. What do you think is going on?
An intriguing loudspeaker technology which generates believable surround effects from only two small enclosures will be arriving at stores later this year, according to a February 24 announcement from <A HREF="http://216.87.12.168/enf/nirotek/niroson.html">Nirotek America Corporation</A>.
Michael Fremer says he has heard many phono preamps in his career as vinyl's pre-eminent advocate, but a few do stand out. MF lived with the <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com//analogsourcereviews/525/">Conrad-Johnson Premier 15 phono preamplifier</A> for several months to see if it would be one of the medalists. Jonathan Scull also adds some thoughts on the Series 2 version.
The most entertaining part of the 44th Annual Grammy Awards wasn't the "Lady Marmalade" production number that opened the show or Alicia Keys' awkward tango later. It was Recording Academy President Michael Greene's rant about the criminal enterprise of electronic music swapping, a phenomenon that, he warned, threatens the music industry's very existence.
At its January CES presentation, Sony announced that this is the year that SACD will roll out big time to the masses. News from EMI/Capitol and Silverline Records would suggest that DVD-Audio may not be far behind, at least as far as available software is concerned.
Dave McCurdy, president of the <A HREF="http://www.eia.org/">Electronic Industries Alliance</A> (EIA), announced last week that Dr. Sidney Harman, executive chairman of <A HREF="http://www.harman.com">Harman International Industries</A>, has been selected to receive EIA's prestigious Medal of Honor for 2002.
Finding a good source of audio advice and equipment can be tough. So, from time to time, we like to ask whether you've found a good high-end audio dealer.
Music publishing organizations such as ASCAP and BMI have long worked out licensing deals with radio broadcasters, who pay royalties in exchange for playing music over the air. A <A HREF="http://www.loc.gov/copyright/">US Copyright Office</A> panel is now suggesting that online broadcasters also pay royalties, this time directly to the record labels, in a recommendation that has so far left all parties unhappy, particularly broadcasters.
<A HREF="http://www.napster.com">Napster</A> may have finally won a round in court. The Federal District judge in the music industry's ongoing case against the file-sharing service has allowed for the possibility that the plaintiffs may have abused their own copyright privileges in the launch of their online music services, MusicNet and pressplay.