News

Sort By:  Post Date TitlePublish Date

Consumer Lawsuit Victory

In the record industry's ongoing">http://www.stereophile.com/news/11261/">ongoing battle against its customers, score one for the consumer. Amid recent industry rumors that Universal Music Group has retreated from its position of adding restrictions to all of its new CDs, a lawsuithttp://www.stereophile.com/news/11134/">lawsuit; over a Charley Pride release has been settled in California, paving the way to alert the public to playback restrictions on discs.

Nakamichi Seeks Protection

One of the most revered names in the audio industry is seeking legal protection from its creditors. On November 19, Nakamichi">http://www.nakamichi.com">Nakamichi Corporation Japan "applied to the court of Japan for a civil rehabilitation," in the words of a company press release on the development, issued the next day. On the 19th, Nakamichi stock closed at ¥22/share (approximately 17¢); the Tokyo Stock Exchange announced that the company would be de-listed effective May 20.

Meridian's Smart Link

Many audiophiles are incensed that the digital outputs on high-resolution disc players are limited to the 16bit/44.1kHz standard of the "Red Book" CD when playing DVD-Audio discs. To read some postings on audiophile newsgroups, you'd think it's a massive conspiracy to prevent people from adding their own processors to the playback chain. Putting as many boxes as possible in an audio system is a constitutionally guaranteed right, isn't it?

Pure Audiophile is Born

It's a brave group of souls who run today's audiophile music labels. Sane business minds would likely deem it foolhardy to start a new specialty label these days, but sometimes one's passion for music overrides the rational impulse to try something a little bit more secure (like perhaps an Internet company?).

Net Grows; Free Music Still Rules

All available statistics demonstrate that the Internet is still a growing phenomenon, one destined to play an increasingly important role in the distribution of information and entertainment. Recently published studies by Jupiter Media Metrix, Inc., a division of Jupiter">http://www.jupiterresearch.com">Jupiter Research, show that Internet usage has achieved greater than 50% penetration among US households, giving it what researchers call "mass-market status." Jupiter describes "online consumers" as people who have computers and Internet service provision in their homes, as opposed to having Internet access through a computer at work. "Online users," for the sake of the studies, were defined as people who use the Internet at least once per month.

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement