We were having trouble with the power in our home—the wall current, I mean, not the dynamics of our marriage—so I called the local utility. While the technician was here, he let me watch what he was doing. I had a chance to look inside our meter box, which is the junction between the utility's power lines and the circuit-breaker box in the cellar.
A classic recording of mythic proportions, Pink Floyd's <I>Dark Side of the Moon</I> still commands attention, both as an artistic and audiophile favorite. Have you purchased the new SACD/CD disc yet? Does it live up to the hype?
Webcasters will pay a new royalty rate to the recording industry, as of April 3.
Back in 1996, Martin Colloms reviewed the <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com//amplificationreviews/809/">Krell KAV-300i integrated amplifier</A>, asking, "Is Krell risking its reputation?" He needn't have worried, as the 300i has gone on to become a popular audiophile classic.
The DVD-Audio format's been around for a couple of years, but simultaneous DVD-A and CD releases of new music have been few and far between. Warner Brothers is hoping to improve on that record with the upcoming album from Fleetwood Mac, <I>Say You Will</I>.
"Rarely, if ever, can this densely written sonata have been presented so lucidly with each note precisely in place...the dramatic and lyrical aspects were never slighted or taken for granted."<BR>—Peter G. Davis, writing in the <I>New York Times</I> about Robert Silverman's New York debut in 1978, when he performed the Liszt B-Minor Piano Sonata in Alice Tully Hall.
The music industry has taken its war against piracy into a new realm.
Alleged unauthorized copying of compact discs will cost Technicolor, Inc. approximately $2.3 million. On March 26, the Southern California disc replicator agreed to settle a <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/news/11309/">case</A> brought against it last year by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), in which the RIAA charged that workers at one of Technicolor's disc plants had made and distributed batches of illegal copies. The total of the settlement was less than 10% of the amount originally sought by the RIAA.
Job cutbacks are one inevitable result of sustained sales declines. In late March, the ailing music industry began to shed excess workers in an effort to reach profitability, with <A HREF="http://www.sonymusic.com">Sony Music</A> and <A HREF="http://www.bmg.com">Bertelsmann Music Group</A> announcing significant reductions in their workforces.