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More Research Heralding the Booming Online Music Age

Stereophile Staff Jul 11, 1999 First Published: Jul 11, 1999

According to a recent report released by Information Technology researchers Frost">http://www.frost.com">Frost & Sullivan, the world Internet audio market generated revenues totaling $42 million in 1998, which dwarfs the 1997 revenues by 1516%. The report predicts that this market will continue growing at a healthy rate, achieving an increase into the triple percentage digits by the end of 1999.

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Added to the Archives This Week

Stereophile Staff Jul 11, 1999 First Published: Jul 11, 1999

Wes Phillips writes, "I catch John's eye and wonder if he's pondering the same question I am: What were we thinking?" In addition to trying to push forward the limits of getting great sound onto tape, Stereophile's release of Rhapsody In Blue would offer the public a groundbreaking arrangement of George Gershwin's most popular orchestral work. In "The">http://www.stereophile.com//features/124/">The Rhapsody Project," Hyperion Knight and John Atkinson join Wes in chronicling their perspectives on the processes leading to this landmark recording.

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Lydstrom's "Next Generation CD Player" will Handle 5000 Songs

Barry Willis Jul 04, 1999 First Published: Jul 04, 1999

If Lydstrom">http://lydstrom.com/">Lydstrom, Inc. has anything to do with it, the next hot ticket in home audio won't be just another CD player, but a musical database manager capable of organizing and playing as many as 5000 songs, from CDs or from Internet downloads. The Boston, Massachusetts-based company announced June 30 that it has licensed Lucent">http://www.lucent.com/">Lucent Technologies' Enhanced Perceptual Audio Coder (ePAC) for inclusion in a product as yet unnamed but projected to be available by Christmas 1999.

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Manufacturers Announce SDMI Technology

Stereophile Staff Jul 04, 1999 First Published: Jul 04, 1999

Last week, Texas">http://www.ti.com">Texas Instruments, Liquid">http://www.liquidaudio.com">Liquid Audio, Fraunhofer, and SanDiskhttp://www.sandisk.com">SanDisk; announced that they've teamed to offer what they describe as "the first complete solution" for the secure downloading of music off the Internet onto portable audio players. The companies say that their programmable DSP-based technology is the first to meet the newly released Secure">www.sdmi.org">Secure Digital Music Initiative (SDMI) guidelines for digital music portable devices, and is now available for manufacturers who want to develop secure players in time for Christmas 1999.

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Eggleston to Develop New Cello Loudspeakers

Stereophile Staff Jul 04, 1999 First Published: Jul 04, 1999

Loudspeaker designer Bill Eggleston has joined Cello">http://www.Cello-US.com/">Cello Technologies Corporation. He will oversee the development of a new line of no-compromise loudspeakers, according to a company press release dated July 1. Eggleston designed the Andra loudspeaker, which was designated Stereophile's "Product of the Year" for 1997.

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Added to the Archives This Week

Stereophile Staff Jul 04, 1999 First Published: Jul 04, 1999

Want to start an argument on one of the audio newsgroups? Just mention ABX. Doesn't matter if you're for it, against it, or just curious about what it is---you'll start a fire that might take weeks to burn out. But before audio newsgroups even existed, J. Gordon Holt was probing the usefulness of the ABX Comparator in an "As We See It" column from 1982, "The">http://www.stereophile.com//asweseeit/121/">The Truth Should Out." His thoughts might surprise you.

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SDMI Compromises with MP3, Will Release Spec Soon

Barry Willis Jul 04, 1999 First Published: Jul 04, 1999

Folk wisdom has it that it's wiser not to lock the gate after the horses have escaped. The Secure">http://www.sdmi.org/">Secure Digital Music Initiative, a consortium of 140 music, software, and hardware companies, has taken that adage to heart. In a significant departure from its original intent to block the distribution of free music on the Internet, the Secure Digital Music Initiative announced in the last week of June that its forthcoming specification for music software and hardware will accommodate the "legacy content" already in existence. There are reportedly as many as 500,000 songs available in the MP3 format, and they will continue to be available even as new, robustly encrypted music comes onto the market.

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Peace, Love, and Marketing

Jon Iverson Jul 04, 1999 First Published: Jul 04, 1999

It's been 30 years since hordes of wild-eyed music lovers converged on White Lake, a small town just north of New York City, for an event that would soon become an icon for a generation. Could anyone back then have imagined that, three decades later, Woodstock would cost $150/ticket and evolve into a marketing opportunity and website?

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New Rio Player to Debut; Diamond Multimedia Acquired by S3, Inc.

Barry Willis Jun 27, 1999 First Published: Jun 27, 1999

The high-end audio industry may be in a slump, but the public's appetite for recorded music appears as voracious as ever. MP3, the hottest upstart in the digital audio market, got a big boost in late June when Diamond">http://www.diamondmm.com/">Diamond Multimedia Systems Inc. announced the next generation of its popular Rio digital music player, the Rio PMP 500, due to arrive in stores this fall.

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Musicland Stores Take Retailing Online

Barry Willis Jun 27, 1999 First Published: Jun 27, 1999

Wednesday, June 23, was an auspicious day for Musicland">http://www.musicland.com/">Musicland Stores Corporation. That day the Minneapolis, Minnesota-based music and video retailer took its sales online. Four websites, each mirroring one of Musicland's four divisions, went live simultaneously with a promotional contest offering customers the chance to win daily and weekly prizes and a $10,000 grand prize---including a Sony home entertainment system. Participants can also win a trip for two to the World">http://www.wwf.com/">World Wrestling Federation Summer Slam in Minneapolis on August 22.