News

Radiohead's Revolutionary Rainbows

Wes Phillips Oct 07, 2007 First Published: Oct 07, 2007

Radiohead, whose last recording, Hail to the Thief, debuted at number three on Billboard's top 200 chart in 2004, announced that its new recording, In Rainbows, will be available as a DRM-free download on October 10. The new twist, however, is that consumers can pay any amount they wish for it.

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ArkivMusic Resurrects Out-of-Print Warner Classics Titles

Jason Victor Serinus Oct 07, 2007 First Published: Oct 07, 2007

ArkivMusic.com has just signed a deal with Warner Classics to reissue, on demand, out-of-print recordings from Teldec, Erato, and Warner Classics. The site's first 300 offerings from the Warner USA catalog, available at the end of October, will join the more than 4000 other out-of-print titles from EMI, Sony/BMG, Universal Music Group, and two dozen independent classical music labels now available on demand from ArkivMusic on ArkivCD. An additional 1000 ArkivCD reissue titles should become available by the end of 2007.

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Meridian's F80 Comes to NYC

Wes Phillips Sep 30, 2007 First Published: Sep 30, 2007

On September 26, Showstoppers had its "digital holidays" event in Manhattan. If you aren't a member of the gadget press, you probably won't know about Showstoppers, but it's a press event that gathers all manner of gadgets, gizmos, and computer peripherals under one roof, adds in an open bar and free food, and invites anybody with a press credential to come mingle and ogle the new products. The events are well-run, well-attended, and almost never have much of interest for Stereophile readers.

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Amazon Offers Downloads Without DRM

Wes Phillips Sep 30, 2007 First Published: Sep 30, 2007

On September 25, Amazon announcedhttp://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=176060&p=irol-newsArticle&I…; that its Amazon">http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/browse/-/163856011">Amazon MP3 download store was open as a "public beta" test. Amazon claims it has "more than two million songs by more than 180,000 artists from over 20,000 major and independent labels," which makes it somewhat less diverse than Apple's iTunes Store, which claims six million songs. However, Amazon MP3 has a few advantages in its corner: its MP3s are higher-resolution, variable bit-rate 256kpbs with no digital rights management—and they are cheaper, 89–99¢ per track, as opposed to iTunes' 99¢ for its 128kbps AAC files (or $1.29 for iTunes+ files, which are DRM-free and 256kbps AAC files).

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EMI Takes Classical Music Online

Jason Victor Serinus Sep 30, 2007 First Published: Sep 30, 2007

EMI and Virgin Classics, one of the oldest and two of the most respected names in classical music, have undertaken a series of audiophile-friendly initiatives designed to strengthen their online presence. At the start of September, the labels together launched the EMI and Virgin Classics Listening Club. Open to music lovers who purchase new EMI or Virgin Classics discs marked with the Opendisc logo, the club's "exclusive" online environment offers participants the opportunity to build relationships with some of the labels' top artists.

News

Scandinavian Audio Research Debuts

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

There's a new drive-unit manufacturing company on the block, but it's really just the same old guys who brought you VIFA, ScanSpeak, and DST—the original pros from Dover, in other words.

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Luxman Returns

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

Philip O'Hanlon, formerly US marketing director for Halcro, has a new project. His distribution company, On">http://www.onahighernote.com">On a Higher Note, is bringing Japanese high-end company Luxman back to the United States.

News

Harman Buyout Scuttled?

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

The Goldman Sachs Capital Partners/Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. $8">http://stereophile.com/news/043007harman/">$8 billion buyout of Harman International Industries, Inc. announced last April may not go through, according to "two people familiar with the matter," Bloomberg.com reported September 21.

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Linn's Klimax DS

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

When I saw Linn's Klimax">http://blog.stereophile.com/cedia2007/090809klimax/">Klimax DS at CEDIA, I was impressed by the company's claim that it sounded "better than a CD12," the marque's (now discontinued) flagship">http://www.stereophile.com/cdplayers/86/">flagship CD player for many years. Quite a claim, I thought, but I wasn't able to make it to a nearby hotel and actually hear the DS in action.

News

Tom Colangelo: 1949–2007

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

Thomas P. Colangelo, designer of some of the best regarded solid-state components of the last three decades, died in a single-car collision on September 5.