Amid news that its watermark technology for DVD-Audio may have been compromised, Verance nonetheless announced last week the launch of its "ConfirMedia" watermarking service. The company says that ConfirMedia will monitor and report the airplay of encoded commercials, music, and programs broadcast by television, cable and radio stations in the 100 top US markets and on the national feeds of major broadcast and cable television networks in the US.
Having previous experience working for the CIA or the KGB may be a bonus on the resume of any aspiring audio industry applicant, it seems. In an effort to stymie the illegal copying and distribution of digital song files, record companies and hardware manufacturers have turned to increasingly complicated tracking technologies such as MPEG-4 and watermarking. The most recent addition to the anti-pirate bag of tricks: "fingerprinting."
On Tuesday, April 17, 2001, New York said farewell to John Lewis in a memorial ceremony at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine. Over 5000 New Yorkers from all walks of life attended, but the most visibly represented community was the musicians.
Is the consumer electronics business swimming, sinking, or simply treading water? It all depends on who's talking. Retailers don't appear to be suffering, despite widespread staffing cutbacks by large companies, but the gains are coming more slowly than they did last year.
Sam Tellig may apologize for contributing to the audiophile empty wallet syndrome, but that doesn't stop him from ranking the Monarchy Audio Digital Interface Processor 24/96 "a must-have if you want to get the most from your upsampling MSB Link DAC III."
During the past year, hardly a day has gone by without headlines announcing the latest twist in the fate of embattled free music service Napster.com. Lost in the hysteria was Napster's tiny rival Emusic.com, a three-year-old online music venture that always charged its subscribers for downloading tunes, and always paid the copyright holders. For news appeal, Emusic's paltry 10,000 subscribers and languishing stock price didn't compare to Napster's reported 75 million users and major league court battles.
In the perfect digital future, audiophiles would be able to drink from the purest of high-resolution audio datastreams with no worry that someone upstream had polluted the current. But in the real world, content providers and hardware manufacturers increasingly conspire to dirty the flow a little and limit unauthorized consumption by controlling the technology needed to filter out their toxic additives.
To balance or not to balance? That is the audio question that Martin Colloms sets out to answer in Balance: Benefit or Bluff? Although balanced capability is a fashionable feature in many expensive audio products, Colloms writes that "the High End could be paying dangerous, costly lip service to the received wisdom that balanced operation is the goal for an audio system."
Consumers attending the Home Entertainment 2001 Show in NYC, May 11–13, 2001, will have a unique opportunity to speak with and learn from the home entertainment industry's leading experts. As part of the three-day audio and video extravaganza, the Show will offer educational seminars and panel discussions—included with the admission ticket price on a first come, first served basis. This is a rare opportunity for consumers to meet with legendary industry journalists, manufacturers, dealers, and others.
It's a season of mixed results in the electronics industry. On April 9, Peabody, MA–based Boston Acoustics announced that it has slashed jobs due to a slow fourth quarter, reducing its workforce from 389 to 327 as a result of slowing sales. The loudspeaker manufacturer expects earnings of more than $4.2 million for the year ending March 31, a figure that puts the company in a profitable position despite a loss of close to $1 million for the final quarter.
John Atkinson finds that the Dynaudio Contour 1.3 Mk.II loudspeaker—a completely overhauled iteration of the original Contour 1.3 Mk.I, released several years back—reveals details in recordings that most speakers smooth right over. JA reveals other details about the Contour in his review, complete with comments on the Contour 1.3 Special Edition from Sam Tellig.
New York City, one of the world's most diverse and eclectic cities, will play host to an outstanding group of musicians, who will perform live at the Home Entertainment 2001 Show, May 11-13, 2001 at the Hilton New York & Towers.
Now there are three—Cello spinoffs, that is. More than two years ago, prior to Cello Technologies' ill-fated expansion, company founder Mark Levinson departed to create Red Rose Music. Late in 2000, former vice president of business development Jim McCullough formed Matthew James LLC, which will make and market a new generation of Cello electronics. In early April, Viola Audio Labs announced its debut.
Large companies may be chopping jobs by the thousands, but there are signs elsewhere that the economy is still booming. Recent figures from electronics retailers Best Buy and the Tweeter Home Entertainment Group and from Sony Electronics indicate only a partial slowdown in spending for quality audio/video gear.