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Some Rights Reserved

Wes Phillips Jul 12, 2004 First Published: Jul 12, 2004

Running counter to the music industry's paranoia concerning the perils of modern digital technology, some musicians want you to share their music—within limits. GarageBand.comhttp://www.garageband.com">GarageBand.com;, which bills itself as "the world's largest musician community," announced June 7 that it now offers the Creative Commons Music Sharing License as an optional tag for all songs uploaded to its website.

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FCC Seeks Feedback

Wes Phillips Jul 12, 2004 First Published: Jul 12, 2004

For some time now, the truly hip Web-enabled person of stature has shared his or her thoughts with the world via a blog (from web log); these days actors, musicians, and, yes, even politicians are getting into the act.

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Restricting CDs, Version 5

Jon Iverson Jul 12, 2004 First Published: Jul 12, 2004

The digital audio genie was released two decades ago, before the music industry imagined any need to restrict how music files on a compact disc might be used. The last few years, however, have seen myriad attempts to redesign the digital audio bottle, and then shove the genie back in—with limited success.

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Industry Roundup

Stereophile Staff Jul 05, 2004 First Published: Jul 05, 2004

XM on a roll: Recent marketing efforts appear to be paying off for XM Satellite Radio. On July 2, the satellite radio startup announced that it had exceeded the 2.1-million subscriber mark during the second quarter. More than 418,000 new subscribers signed up during that period—over twice the number recruited in the same quarter last year. XM-compatible products are appearing at an ever-increasing number of retail outlets, leading some observers to believe that the company may have a fighting chance in the long run.

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Audio Realism Breakthrough

Barry Willis Jul 05, 2004 First Published: Jul 05, 2004

Audiophiles of every stripe know that achieving a realistic soundstage is maddeningly elusive—some would say impossible. When a system is right for some recordings, it's far off for others.

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Krell "Trade Up" Deal

Stereophile Staff Jul 05, 2004 First Published: Jul 05, 2004

Would a piece of Krell electronics be the crowning jewel on your equipment rack?

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The Digital Den Emerges

Jon Iverson Jul 05, 2004 First Published: Jul 05, 2004

Most audiophiles are generally loathe to think that they'd run their main audio systems from a computer. Last time we">http://cgi.stereophile.com/cgi-bin/showvote.cgi?346">we ran a poll, answers such as this one from David L. Wyatt, Jr. were typical: "Why in the world would I hook my computers to my stereo? If I want to make a compilation CD of the music I have purchased, I'll just burn one."

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Added to the Archives This Week

Stereophile Staff Jul 05, 2004 First Published: Jul 05, 2004

We begin with a January 1993 article from Robert Harley called The">http://www.stereophile.com/reference/193jitter">The Jitter Game. RH explains, "Clock jitter is a serious and underestimated source of sonic degradation in digital audio. Only recently has jitter begun to get the attention it deserves, both by high-end designers and audio academics."

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Industry Roundup

Barry Willis Jun 28, 2004 First Published: Jun 28, 2004

Audio retail revival: Electronics retailers throughout the US are ramping up their commitment to audio separates, according to a June 21 report by Joseph Palenchar in TWICE (This Week in Consumer Electronics). Palenchar describes the new emphasis on audio components as a response to declining margins on "home theater in a box" (HtiB) systems. Through April of this year, factory-to-dealer audio component sales rose 29.8% to $344.6 million, with April sales up 41.9%, hitting a four-year high of $86.9 million.

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CD Surround Sound

Stereophile Staff Jun 28, 2004 First Published: Jun 28, 2004

Will surround sound rejuvenate the music industry? That's the position many record label execs took when adding the capability to DVD-Audio and SACD years ago. But while they wait for the high-rez formats to catch on, SRS">http://www.srslabs.com">SRS Labs has decided to add multichannel audio to the conventional compact disc.