News

All of us at Stereophile were saddened to learn of the death of mastering engineer Denny Purcell, whose body was found Thursday, August 22 in the offices of his Georgetown Masters studio in Nashville. He was 51.

Less than a week after launching major copyright-infringement litigationhttp://www.stereophile.com/news/11422/">litigation; against several large Internet service providers (ISPs), member companies of the Recording">http://www.riaa.com">Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) abruptly withdrew their lawsuit because an offending offshore music site had even more abruptly gone dark.

"The vinyl record should be commemorated, not forgotten, for its unique contribution to our society. Therefore the County of San Luis Obispo, in the state of California, proclaims a celebration of the memories of music. 'Vinyl">http://www.vinylrecordday.com/">Vinyl Record Day' will be celebrated to acknowledge vinyl records' influence on individuals and cultures worldwide. The date is August 12th, the date of the invention of the phonograph by Thomas Edison in 1877."

John Atkinson gets his hands on "the very strange-looking" MBL">http://www.stereophile.com//loudspeakerreviews/643/">MBL 111B loudspeaker to determine how "upper-frequency drive-units resembling an array of orange segments" could possibly sound. As JA discovers, thinking different can sometimes be a plus.

Questionable accounting practices were at the heart of the collapse of energy conglomerate Enron and telecommunications giant WorldCom. Apparently, they are also rampant in the music industry—or at least pervasive enough to command the attention of California state legislators, who have scheduled a second hearing to examine the situation.

What music lovers have suspected for months, and record labels vehemently deny, has apparently been confirmed by Forrester">http://www.forrester.com">Forrester Research: Piracy is not responsible for the 15% drop in music sales in the past two years. According to a new report from Forrester, "Labels can restore industry growth by making it easier for people to find, copy, and pay for music on their own terms."

"You'd be hard-pressed to find a company more protective of its reputation than Krell," says Wes Phillips, as he heads off to evaluate the Krell">http://www.stereophile.com//digitalsourcereviews/638/">Krell KAV-300cd CD player. WP ponders whether that reputation is still intact as the company tries to save its customers some money.