L<I>ast week, Robert Rich began this two-part article (<A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/news/10508/">click here for part one</A>) with an explanation of ambient music and pointers to some of his favorite artists' web pages. This week he wraps up with more web resources, including record labels, webzines, and online radio programs dedicated to the genre.</I>
Selling consumer-electronics gear over the Web has begun to glow white-hot in the last year, with dozens of companies turning up the competitive burners (see <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/news/10514/">related story</A>). It will likely be a tough business, with the inevitable shake-outs and mergers taking place as retailers test their strategies and brands on the public's pocketbooks.
After months of wrangling, the <A HREF="http://www.sdmi.org/">Secure Digital Music Initiative</A> (SDMI) has selected <A HREF="http://www.musicode.com/">Aris Technologies</A>' MusiCode as its recommended form of digital audio copy protection, according to an inside source at SDMI. The decision came at the end of weeks of <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/news/10511/">testing</A> various watermarking techniques on the music industry's "golden ears"—recording and mastering engineers, music producers, and professional audiophiles. The official announcement is expected later this week.
Both the DVD-Audio and SACD camps have now officially announced players for later this year, neither of which will play the other format (unlike the universal players promised, but not yet delivered, by Yamaha and Denon). What will you do?
Time for early-adopter audiophiles to start saving those pennies. <A HREF="http://www.panasonic.com">Panasonic</A> has just announced delivery dates and suggested pricing for two DVD-Audio players: the Panasonic DVD-A7 and the Technics DVD-A10. Beginning this October, Panasonic says that both models will be shipped to dealers nationwide, with the DVD-A7 retailing at $999.95 and the DVD-A10 checking in at $1199.95.
Last year the music industry was jolted from its complacency by the rise of MP3, a scheme for the quick and easy transfer of digital audio files over the Internet. Legal attempts to block the format as a form of copyright violation failed, and the industry began scrambling to find a way to prevent the wholesale piracy of higher-resolution formats to come. The Secure Digital Music Initiative (SDMI), an alliance of more than 240 hardware, software, and music-publishing companies, has been working overtime trying to develop an unobtrusive technique for preventing unauthorized copying—something that digital technology is making easier than ever.
While recording the <I>Encore</I> CD for <I>Stereophile</I>, John Atkinson had to decide: "Should I add some artificial reverberation?" After much gnashing of teeth, he plowed ahead. Read about the process in "<A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com//features/129/">Encore</A>," an in-depth look at the recording techniques, the artists, and the music.
The <A HREF="http://www.dvdforum.org/">DVD Forum</A> announced July 28 that it will start verification services for products based on the DVD-Audio format (see <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/news/10379/">previous article</A>) at some of its authorized DVD Format Verification Laboratories starting September 1999. According to the Forum, format verification is conducted to establish the conformity of DVD products with DVD formats created by the DVD Forum, and allows manufacturers of successfully tested products to use DVD logos as proof of conformity.
Pauline Oliveros calls it "deep listening"—a way to pay attention to the sensual qualities of sound itself. Welcome to a world of music that defies categorization, that invites a listener to soak slowly into a deep and otherworldly zone. This music goes by many names: ambient, spacemusic, electronica, sacred music, tribal/trance. Alas, you'll often find it hiding in the New Age section. Unlike some fluffier New Age fare, good ambient albums can explore the deeper, more solitary spaces. At its best, ambient music can sensitize you to sound in unique ways. It can enlarge your listening space to cavernous dimensions, paint hallucinogenic sonic landscapes, summon primordial forces, or enshroud you in clouds of diffuse vapor.