April Music's US Distributor
April Music's high-end audio products should soon be available to music lovers throughout the US, thanks to a distribution agreement with Bertrand Audio Imports announced August 11.
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HD Radio Makes Progress
We've been hearing about it for years, but high-definition radio may finally be on its way. Feeling competitive pressure from satellite operations XM Radio and Sirius Satellite Radio, US broadcasters are making what appear to be sincere efforts to upgrade their service by moving from analog to digital.
Roxio Pouring All into Napster
Received wisdom has it that putting all your eggs in one basket isn't a good business plan, but that's exactly what Roxio, Inc. intends to do with its Napster online music service.
Mercury Living Presence On SACD
Audiophiles and music lovers enamored of the legendary Mercury Living Presence series of recordings will have plenty to celebrate with a recent announcement from Universal Music Group (UMG).
Added to the Archives This Week
Paul Bolin notes, "Bankers and doctors bought McIntosh, not 'serious' audiophiles. So ran the conventional wisdom." While reviewing the <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/amplificationreviews/804mcintosh">McIntosh MC501 monoblock power amplifier</A>, PB discovers that conventional wisdom can be anything but wise.
SACD and Video?
The music industry is clearly redoubling its efforts to market DVD-Audio, with the <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/news/080904dualdisc/">proposed launch</A> of the DualDisc format. Adding either video content or high-rez audio or both to a standard CD looks to be <I>the</I> new strategy for adding value—an acknowledgement that just offering non–CD-compatible high-rez audio is not enough.
What are your thoughts about the DualDisc format?
The record companies have agreed to create a new format called <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/news/080904dualdisc/" TARGET=NEW>DualDisc</A> to allow a CD on one side and a DVD video or audio program on the other. What do you think of the idea?
Recording of August 2004: Hymns of the 49th Parallel
<B>K.D. LANG: <I>Hymns of the 49th Parallel</I></B><BR>
Nonesuch 79847-2 (CD). 2004. k.d. lang, Ben Mink, prods.; David Leonard, John Morrical, engs. AAD? TT: 47:24<BR>
Performance <B>****½</B><BR>
Sonics <B>****</B>
Music Business—Show Business
<I>Stereophile</I> is devoted to getting the best sound from a home audio system. But as I have <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/asweseeit/533">written before</A>, audiophiles don't have access to an <I>absolute</I> sound, only to what has been captured in the pits or grooves of their discs, which is itself the result of a creative process. The playing back and the making of recordings are therefore two sides of the same coin. This is why I get actively involved in recording projects and why I publish articles about those projects, the most recent of which appears on p.50. "<A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/musicrecordings/804k622">Project K622</A>" describes the making of a new recording of Mozart's Clarinet Concerto (work number 622 in the Köchel catalog of Mozart's compositions, hence the article's title), which is being released both on hybrid SACD and on 180gm vinyl. (You can buy both from our secure "<A HREF="https://secure.stereophile.com/stereophile/recordings.shtml">Recordings…; page.)
Kuzma Air Line tonearm
The lacquers from which LPs are pressed are cut in a straight line, and that's how the LP groove should be traced. Even when set up perfectly, a pivoted arm describes an arc across the disc surface, maintaining tangency to the groove at only two points on that arc. Yet despite numerous attempts at building and selling linear-tracking tonearms, few remain on the market, and most are fraught with technical problems. Linear-tracking arms can be anything <I>but</I> linear, committing more sins of geometry as they meander across the record surface than do their pivoted brethren.