News

Meet the new boss: Harman Specialty Group, the division of Harman Consumer Group responsible for the Mark Levinson, Revel, and Lexicon brands, has a new president. John Batliner is a 12-year veteran of the company, and, most recently, executive vice-president of HSG. Wayne Morris, current president of the company, will remain active until the end of April.

Last week, www.stereophile.com posted an article concerning Pollara, Inc.'s Canadian Recording Industry Association–commissioned 144-page">http://www.stereophile.com/news/032006cria/">144-page report on the downloading habits of Canadian music consumers. We reported that the University of Ottawa's Dr. Michael Geist interpreted the Pollara data differentlyhttp://michaelgeist.ca/component/option,com_content/task,view/id,1168/I…; than the polling group did, in particular noting his conclusion that people who had downloaded music had legally purchased more music than their counterparts who had never done so.

The Consumer Electronics Association (CEA), the producer of the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES), has finally confirmed the rumors that have been circulating for many weeks: The industry sector that CEA terms "high-performance audio" will move from its customary venue at the Alexis Villas (originally the Alexis Park) to the Venetian Hotel in 2007. In addition, "high-performance audio" and "high-performance home theater" will now be represented under the same umbrella.

Krell restructures S&M: Dean Roumanis, Krell's Chief Operating Officer, announced March 14 that the company had restructured its sales and marketing department to "enable [Krell] to continue to grow our business by maximizing the skills of our personnel."

The Canadian Recording Industry Association (CRIA) commissioned a new 144-page report of radio and consumer survey results, based on data collected between February 17 and 22 by Pollara, Inc. in 1229 telephone interviews with respondents above the age of 13. The purpose of the study was to collect data that the CRIA could submit to the Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunication Commission's (CTRC) Commercial">http://www.crtc.gc.ca/archive/ENG/Hearings/2006/n2006-1.htm">Commercial Radio Review. (For those interested in reading all 144 pages, click herehttp://support.crtc.gc.ca/applicant/docs.aspx?pn_ph_no=2006-1&call_id=2…; and download "Appendix A.")

Last week, the Electronic Frontier Foundation's (EFF) Fred">http://www.stereophile.com/news/031306eff/">Fred von Lohmann talked with us about how fair use created unexpected riches for Hollywood, created the iPod boom, and how dismantling it could prove disastrous for consumers. This week, we resume that conversation with a discussion about digital rights management (DRM) and why the computer industry is willing to support it, even though its consumers never asked for it.

Audica MPS-1: Audicahttp://www.audica.co.uk/">Audica;, the Cambridge, UK–based manufacturer founded by Kieron Dunk (formerly of Mission, Denon, Cyrus, Infinity, and Klipsch, to name but a few) is finally shipping its stylish MPS-1 desktop audio system ($400). The MPS-1 consists of two diminutive extruded aluminum loudspeakers and a 25Wpc amplifier/control center with three 3.5mm inputs (one high sensitivity for portables and other low-output sources; the others with lower sensitivity and higher input impedence). The MPS-1 control center also has USB and FireWire connections to facilitate recharging portable players' batteries.