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The Year the Music Industry Broke

Wes Phillips Dec 23, 2007 First Published: Dec 23, 2007

MTV published an end of the year review of the music business on December 17, "Madonna">http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1576538/20071214/madonna.jhtml?src=rss… Ditches Label, Radiohead Go Renegade: The Year The Music Industry Broke." Month by month, it's a litany of bad tidings for the biz, from January 14, 2007, the day the Dreamgirls soundtrack hit number 1 on Billboard's pop charts with a scant 60,000 copies sold (lowest #1 ever) through December 3, 2007's announcements that Def Jam and EMI were laying off employees and Warner Music Group would cut executive bonuses (awww).

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Ultralink's Don Bouchard Injured in Motorcycle Accident

Wes Phillips Dec 23, 2007 First Published: Dec 23, 2007

We received word December 21 that Ultralink/XLO Products executive vice-president Don Bouchard was injured in a "serious motorcycle accident in Texas." Bouchard is currently recovering in a Houston hospital, surrounded by his family, close friends, and business associates. Knowing Don, we're sure that's a packed hospital room.

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2008 CES Gets Juicy

Jason Victor Serinus Dec 16, 2007 First Published: Dec 16, 2007

One year after the Consumer Electronics Show switched venues from the Alexis Park to The Venetian/Sands Expo and Convention Center, leaving "renegade" exhibitors at T.H.E. Show's less costly St. Tropez venue isolated from the rest of the action, both shows are back stronger than ever. CES's "high-performance audio" exhibits in the Venetian's Tower Suites have increased to 173 from 122, while T.H.E. Show has expanded to a total of 90 exhibit rooms in the Alexis Park and the St. Tropez.

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Why We Love the Internet

Wes Phillips Dec 16, 2007 First Published: Dec 16, 2007

IRebuildMarantz.com: Robert D. Bowdish sent us an email recently, pointing us to his http://www.irebuildmarantz.com/"> IRebuildMarants.com website, which he describes as "my semi-DYI site that's for the purpose of keeping great vintage audio gear alive."

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Industry Update: Immedia Distributes Lehmann; Audio-Technica Introduces Ripping Turntable

Wes Phillips Dec 16, 2007 First Published: Dec 16, 2007

Lehmann Audio: Immediahttp://www.immediasound.com/">Immedia;, the Berkeley, CA–based distributor of Lyra cartridges, Finite Element stands, Sonics by Joachim Gerhard loudspeakers, and Spiral Groove turntables, has become Lehmann Audio's US distributor.

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Third Time Lucky?

Wes Phillips Dec 16, 2007 First Published: Dec 16, 2007

On December 2, we posted an articlehttp://stereophile.com/news/120307samplerateconversion/">article; based on conversations with Benchmark Audio's John Siau, which described Siau's thoughts on the bit-transparency of later versions of iTunes. On December 9, Gordon Rankin weighed in with Wavelength Audio's thoughts">http://stereophile.com/news/121007fixes/">thoughts on the subject.

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DRM Death Knell?

Wes Phillips Dec 09, 2007 First Published: Dec 09, 2007

A new year-long download promotion may spell the death knell for digital rights management (DRM). The Pepsi promotion, which will be formally announced during the Super Bowl on February 3, will advertise a possible one billion downloadable MP3 files, which will be available through Amazon.com's download service, which does not feature DRM. We have not been able to obtain a list of participating labels to date, but since EMI, UMG, and Hollywood Records already participate at Amazon's MP3 store, they're probably involved. Less certain are Sony BMG and Warner Music Group (WMG), who seem to be sticking as much at the 40¢ per song (compared to 65–70¢ from Amazon or 70¢ from iTunes) offered by Pepsi as at the lack of DRM—although neither label has yet offered unprotected digital files.

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iTunes Fixes

Wes Phillips Dec 09, 2007 First Published: Dec 09, 2007

Last week, we passed along some observations from Benchmark Media Systems' John Siau about iTunes forcing an unnecessary sample-rate">http://stereophile.com/news/120307samplerateconversion/">sample-rate conversion in its 7.5 incarnation. We received a lot of mail on the subject during the week, including some helpful suggestions from Wavelength Audio's Gordon">http://www.stereophile.com/interviews/196rankin">Gordon Rankin, who has much experience designing USB">http://www.stereophile.com/digitalprocessors/905listen">USB audio devices.

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Karlheinz Stockhausen: 1928–2007

Wes Phillips Dec 09, 2007 First Published: Dec 09, 2007

The Stockhausen">http://www.stockhausen.org/">Stockhausen Foundation announced December 7 that Karlheinz Stockhausen died on December 5. No cause of death was given.

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New Cantus CD from John Atkinson

Stereophile Staff Dec 09, 2007 First Published: Dec 26, 2007

Stereophile's seventh CD of Minnesotan male choir Cantus, called with delightful originality Cantus (CTS1207) and recorded at 88.2kHz with 24-bit resolution, is now available from our e-commerce">http://ssl.blueearth.net/primedia/home.php">e-commerce page, for $16.95 plus S&H.