Historically, audio has not received a lot of attention from the computer industry. That long tradition may be ending, judging by a couple of new technologies that debuted at COMDEX in mid-November. COMDEX is the year's biggest computer-industry bash, held in Las Vegas two months prior to the Consumer Electronics Show.
Last week we asked how much time you spend in the sweet spot. Now tell us how much time you spend listening to music in total.
One of the more popular monthly columns in <I>Stereophile</I> these days is Jonathan Scull's "Fine Tunes." To keep our online readers fit and tweaked, we are going to be adding Scull's columns to the online Archives section on a weekly basis, starting with the first column he wrote for the magazine, back in July 1998: "<A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com//finetunes/169/">Fine Tunes #1</A>." "I think I just got 2000 bucks' worth of difference," writes a reader about the value of the advice contained in J-10's first installment.
If all goes according to publicists' wishes, Web surfers will be able to access music previews beginning November 15 without the necessity of using a third-party software player, such as RealNetworks G2, to play downloaded audio files. Streaming-audio provider <A HREF="http://www.audiobase.com/">AudioBase.com</A> has signed deals with several heavyweight corporate sponsors for the launch of its music previews. Participants include Sony Music, K-Tel, and Levi-Strauss. The deals are being announced in conjunction with Internet audio conference <A HREF="http://www.webnoize.com/">Webnoize</A>.
Feeling the need to hook your audio system directly into a website for music files? Last week, <A HREF="http://www.sony.co.jp">Sony Corporation</A> and <A HREF="http://www.sun.com">Sun Microsystems</A> announced plans to further collaborate to provide digital consumer-electronics appliances with direct access to Internet-based content and services. The companies say that the first phase of this cooperation will involve the development of home gateway software, running on appliances such as set-top boxes (connected to a home entertainment system), that will support a combination of home networking and network server technologies.
Need proof that baby boomers and their attendant interests are having an effect on the frontiers of computer research? Look no further than Triumph PC Online's announcement that it has introduced <A HREF="http://www.triumphpc.com/john-lennon">The John Lennon Artificial Intelligence Project</A> (JLAIP), the first AI-based clone of the late Beatle.  The project, initially titled The Plastic Digital Karma Project, has been under development for two years.
People love to make their own compilation recordings. That fact helped make the cassette deck the most successful audio format of all time, and it is driving sales of CD recorders, a product category new to most consumers. As <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/news/10533/">predicted</A> last summer, CD recorders have become one of the hottest niches in consumer audio, exceeding MiniDisc machines in total sales dollars. Sales are brisk despite the fact that CD recorders are among the priciest components on the market, ranging from $500 to $600. MiniDisc recorders for home use are priced at about $250 and up.
Reader Samo Jecnik, from Ljubljana, Slovenia, has a simple question for audiophiles: "I'd like to know how much time per week <I>Stereophile</I> readers <I>listen</I> to the music on their <I>main</I> systems. I mean the time they're sitting in the sweet spot."