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Hard-Disk Audio

Jon Iverson Nov 04, 2001 First Published: Nov 04, 2001

Hard-disk–based audio systems having been gaining traction in recent months, with a half-dozen consumer electronics companies announcing or selling products. These new components model what savvy computer users have been hacking together for years—a software-controlled music library based on hundreds or thousands of CD or MP3 files stored on a hard disk.

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Financial Picture Gloomy for CE Industry

Barry Willis Oct 28, 2001 First Published: Oct 28, 2001

A heavy second-quarter loss for Sony Corporation is only part of the gloomy financial picture for the consumer electronics industry. The numbers are down worldwide for manufacturers and retailers alike, and aren't expected to rebound until spring 2002 at the earliest.

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Justice Department vs. Big Music

Barry Willis Oct 28, 2001 First Published: Oct 28, 2001

As reported last">http://www.stereophile.com/news/11171/">last week, the US Justice Department has launched an anti-trust investigation of the music industry's strategy for online distribution. The probe intensified during the fourth week of October, with investigators presenting at least 10 "civil investigation demands" (CIDs) to participants in the music industry's nascent Internet ventures, MusicNethttp://www.musicnet.com">MusicNet; and pressplayhttp://www.pressplay.com">pressplay;.

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Added to the Archives This Week

Stereophile Staff Oct 28, 2001 First Published: Oct 28, 2001

Kalman Rubinson says he "anticipated the installation of the TacT">http://www.stereophile.com//amplificationreviews/437/">TacT Audio RCS 2.0 digital equalizer/preamplifier with mixed emotions." Would his hard work at setting up the perfect listening environment be rendered irrelevant in the face of digital signal processing? Or would the future of audio unfold at his feet?

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Liquid Assets Up for Grabs?

Jon Iverson Oct 28, 2001 First Published: Oct 28, 2001

Times are tough in the online audio delivery market, with long-established start-ups struggling to keep pace with competing formats from Microsoft as well as the ever pervasive MP3. Particularly hard hit has been Liquid">http://www.liquidaudio.com">Liquid Audio, which along with competitor Real Audio, has for the last few years attempted to create the de facto standard for online music commerce.

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More Restricted CDs

Jon Iverson Oct 28, 2001 First Published: Oct 28, 2001

Yet another variation on restricted-use compact discs appeared last week, when Phoenix-based SunnCommhttp://www.sunncomm.com/">SunnComm; announced an agreement with Nashville's Sunbird Records that also includes revenue sharing. Sunbird says it is preparing to release country music singer Len Doolin's Once in a Lifetime on November 1 using SunnComm's new "Expanded Experience CD" (CD3) technology in an effort to restrict use of the disc on computers.

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Internet: Only Hope for Classical Music?

Barry Willis Oct 28, 2001 First Published: Oct 28, 2001

Record stores are devoting a diminishing amount of space to classical music, to the dismay of music lovers. Online distribution may offer hope for the genre, according to an in-depth">http://www.nytimes.com/2001/10/21/arts/music/21TOMM.html">in-depth report by Anthony Tommasini in the October 21 edition of the New York Times.

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It's the Pricing, Stupid!

Jon Iverson Oct 21, 2001 First Published: Oct 21, 2001

Whenever we run">http://www.stereophile.com/showvote.cgi?168">run a poll asking readers what record companies can do to reduce piracy, one of the most common gripes is that CD prices are too high. Apparently the National">http://www.narm.com/">National Association of Recording Merchandisers (NARM) and major music retailers across the country agree. They also are looking for better-sounding formats to goose sales.

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Added to the Archives This Week

Stereophile Staff Oct 21, 2001 First Published: Oct 21, 2001

With SACD and DVD-Audio rumbling off in the distance, is the high-end CD player dead? Michael Fremer takes a listen to the Musical">http://www.stereophile.com//digitalsourcereviews/433/">Musical Fidelity Nu-Vista 3D CD player and reports that the company decided it was "better to concentrate efforts on trying to optimize the sound of the two billion CDs already in play than divert company resources into developing technology and products aimed at an uncertain digital future and an unsettled customer base."

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RIAA Back-pedals on PC Hacking

Barry Willis Oct 21, 2001 First Published: Oct 21, 2001

The Recording">http://www.riaa.com">Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is trying to distance itself from an attempt earlier this month to insert language into a broad anti-terrorism bill that would have given the organization's members the right to hack into computers operated by Internet music sites—as well as those owned by private individuals—to find and delete pirated recordings. The wording suggested by the RIAA would have excluded copyright holders from criminal charges for causing damage to computers in the effort to control piracy.