You may have noticed recent news items about proposals to deregulate the electrical power industry. You may have received solicitations to sign on with some start-up utility you never heard of, promising 10% to 40% reductions in your electrical bill. The model for this deregulation---if it comes to pass---is the long-distance telephone industry.
The world used to be a simple place, where a record would sell only if it was big on the radio. These days, folks get their information about music from all over the map. Where do you get yours?
On March 12, <A HREF="http://ovonic.com.">Energy Conversion Devices, Inc.</A> announced that <A HREF="http://www.sony.com">Sony Corporation</A> has expanded its royalty-bearing license under ECD's proprietary phase-change rewritable optical-memory technology to include advanced technology for use in rewritable CD and DVD optical-memory products. Phase-change technology, invented by ECD, is used in PD and CD-RW rewritable optical-memory discs.
Remember how your Uncle Charlie used to hole up in the basement with his ham radio rig? He'd spend hours down there, tweaking his equipment and chatting in an arcane jargon with fellow hobbyists around the world.
March 9, <A HREF="http://www.akm.com">AKM Semiconductor, Inc.</A> introduced the AK5392, a 24-bit stereo analog-to-digital (A/D) converter based on its proprietary dual-bit delta-sigma technology. The AK5392 reportedly achieves a dynamic range of 116dB, said to be a 15dB improvement over other single-chip alternatives.
In an announcement that could stun the neophyte custom CD compilation business and concurrently impact future prospects for the $12 billion music recording industry, <A HREF="http://www.supersonicboom.com/">superSonic BOOM</A> has signed an exclusive licensing agreement with Ergon Technology for a patented manufacturing process covering customized audio products. Like <A HREF="http://www.openmarket.com">Open Market</A>'s announcement last week that it had received patents from the US government for its e-commerce technology, superSonic's announcement raises more questions than it answers.
Coming soon on the <A HREF="http://www.madrigal.com">Madrigal Audio Laboratories</A> website is <i>La Folia</i>, a music webzine. Edited by Mike Silverton, <i>La Folia</i> sets out to supplement the audiophile press by directing its emphasis at recordings elsewhere neglected: present-day art music (aka "classical"), free and improvisational jazz, category-defying hybrids, and whatever else strikes their "clutch of sweet-spot stuckees as rare and well done."
