News

Sort By:  Post Date TitlePublish Date
News

Disney, Microsoft, Others Take a Copyright Stance

Wes Phillips First Published: Oct 27, 2007

A consortium of media and Internet companies announced a set of guidelines to protect copyrights online on October 19. Among the group, which has been negotiating for nine months, were Walt Disney Co.; Microsoft; NBC Universal; Viacom, Inc.; CBS Corp.; News Corp.'s MySpace and Fox constituents; Veoh Networks, Inc.; and Dailymotion S.A. Noticeable for its absence was Google, including YouTube, which has recently been sued for $1 billion for infringement by Viacom.

News

Harman Buyout Ends in Settlement

Wes Phillips First Published: Oct 27, 2007

When Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. and Goldman Sachs decided to call">http://stereophile.com/news/092407harman/">call off their projected">http://stereophile.com/news/043007harman/">projected $8 billion takeover of Harman International Industries, Inc., industry experts predicted the audio company would take the two financial firms to court, if not to gain the $225 million termination fee, to force them to abide by their material adverse effect statement and complete the transaction.

News

Industry Update

Wes Phillips First Published: Oct 21, 2007

Jammie Thomas Appeal: Just weeks after having been found liable for $220,000">http://stereophile.com/news/100807jammie/">$220,000 in damages for allegedly offering 24 music tracks on her KaZaa account, Jammie Thomas has filed a notice of remittitur with the US District Court for the District of Minnesota, asking the judge to slash the jury's damage award, contending that she should receive a retrial that assesses the damages based on the actual damages suffered by the labels resulting from her making the files available.

News

Bernie Grundman at RMAF

John Atkinson First Published: Oct 21, 2007

A Show like last week's Rocky">http://blog.stereophile.com/rmaf2007">Rocky Mountain Audio Fest presents me with conflicts. As a member of the press I should be spending my time covering the Show. However, I am also spending my time as a participant, in this case giving a series">http://www.stereophile.com/news/100807rmaf/">series of presentations in which I allowed Showgoers the opportunity to listen to the hi-rez masters of many of my Stereophile recordings and compare them with CD and MP3 versions.

News

Buy Stereophile CDs—Get a Free T-Shirt

Stephen Mejias First Published: Oct 14, 2007

Attention shoppers! With any purchase of $100 or more from our secure">http://ssl.blueearth.net/primedia/home.php">secure E-commerce page, we’ll be happy to include one wonderfully cool and comfy, XL Stereophile T-shirt, absolutely free of charge. Offer applies to orders of $100 or more before shipping and handling fees, and is only available while supplies last, so act now. Browse our large collection of CDs, LPs, and back issues and splurge on yourself, or get a little extra something special for your favorite audiophile—just in time for the holiday season!

News

MartinLogan's Custom Shop; Hansen's Elixir.

Wes Phillips First Published: Oct 13, 2007

MartinLogan: MartinLoganhttp://www.martinlogan.com">MartinLogan; has launched its Custom">http://configurator.martinlogan.com">Custom Shop application, which will enable consumers to utilize a 3D model and a palette of finishes to configure custom loudspeakers. ML claims that its flagship Summit loudspeaker ($10,995/pair) can be ordered in 400,000 custom combinations. The consumer can chose everything from cabinet finish to the color of the screws on the rear panel, the company claims.

News

Label Panic in the Year 2007

Wes Phillips First Published: Oct 13, 2007

In a week in which Radiohead released non-DRM digital files of its new recording, In">http://www.stereophile.com/news/100807radiohead/">In Rainbows, for whatever price consumers felt obliged to pay, and Madonna and Nine Inch Nails both announced they were going to release their own music without help from record labels, two of the big four labels had drastically different reactions to the new realities of music distribution.

News

Hi-Rez Recording Dems at RMAF

Stereophile Staff First Published: Oct 07, 2007

That, somehow, the "absolute sound" of live music is locked up within the grooves or pits of the discs we play and can be retrieved in its entirety if only we had a a good enough playback system is one of the enduring myths in high-end audio. Yet the art of recording is just that, an art, and it is entirely possible that a better playback system will sound worse with some recordings. And with the mainstream press telling would-be audiophiles that low–bit-rate MP3s are of "CD quality" and that even CD is overkill for audiophile sound quality, why would anyone need high-resolution recordings?

News

Labels Win $220,000 in Download Damages

Wes Phillips First Published: Oct 07, 2007

On October 4, a federal jury in Duluth, MN found Jammie Thomas liable for copyright infringement, imposing a damages assessment of $220,000 ($9250 for each of 24 songs). It was the first jury trial resulting from the series of lawsuits the recording industry began in September 2003. Since most of those suits were settled out of court (average settlement: $4000) or defaulted, Capitol Records v. Thomas was the rare case to actually go to court and in front of a jury. It was interesting in ways other than its seemingly high damages.

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement