While Napster was thriving a few short months ago, the music business was noisily seething and quietly plotting. How could they put the digital audio genie back into the content-control bottle? Although Napster has since been gutted, the labels have identified the unprotected CD as the source of their woes, and now it's payback time.
The occasion was the 1999 Consumer Electronics Show, and I had sought out the Sony suite at Bally's—the word in the Las Vegas bars where audio journalists hung out was that Sony was demonstrating the production version of their <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com//digitalsourcereviews/180/">SCD-1 Super Audio CD player</A>. I was glad I'd made the trek along the Strip: As I reported in the May 1999 <I>Stereophile</I>, the sound of a DMP recording—of unaccompanied choral music recorded and mixed in DSD by Tom Jung—was breathtaking, I felt, with an exquisite sense of space. It was definitely the best sound at the CES.
<B>JANE MONHEIT: <I>Come Dream With Me</I></B><BR>N-Coded Music NC-4219-2 (CD) 2001. Joel Dorn, prod.; Carl Griffin exec. prod.; Todd Parker, eng.; Steve Mazur, asst. eng.; Gene Paul, sonic supervision. AAD? TT: 52:49<BR>Performance<B>****</B><BR>Sonics<B>*****</B>
As often happens with labels, the word "audiophile" has different meanings for different folks. How would you explain what it means to a friend?
Like the proverbial camel who took over the tent after getting just his nose in, it appears that once copy protection is given an inch, it will inevitably try to get in all the way. At least that's how it appears with an increasing variety of CD copy protection systems now currently being tested <I>en masse</I> by the major record labels. Latest to announce a new "evaluation agreement" is BMG Entertainment, which will use and evaluate SunnComm's MediaCloQ "digital content cloaking technology", first put to the test earlier in the year on a Charley Pride CD (<A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/news/11004/">see previous</A>).
The <A HREF="http://www.nab.org">National Association of Broadcasters</A> has lost a round in its fight to avoid paying royalties for music streamed over the Internet.
<A HREF="http://www.umusic.com">Universal Music Group</A> and <A HREF="http://www.wmg.com">Warner Music Group</A> are more than friendly competitors, in the view of the <A HREF="http://www.ftc.gov">Federal Trade Commission</A>. They are also partners in crime, according to charges filed against the two on July 31 in New York.
Although the deal was <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/news/11038/">announced</A> by both companies only weeks ago, it appears that <A HREF="http://www.audioadvisor.com">Audio Advisor</A> will in fact not be distributing Musical Fidelity products in the US after September 1. In AA's place, Musical Fidelity has chosen Kevro International as the exclusive US distributor for its complete line of electronic products. According to Kevro International spokesperson Kathy Ginn, "Musical Fidelity [has] chosen to market [its] products through independent specialists rather than [continue] their previous approach [of distributing the line] through mail order and the Internet. And, unfortunately, AA will no longer be a dealer."