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Tie Me Compact Disc Down, Sport

Music buyers will find a new report issued by Parks Associates both interesting and disturbing. Interesting in what it purports to reveal about consumers, and, as we shall see, disturbing in how the music industry is being urged to interpret the data.

The researchers claim that "contrary to widely held industry beliefs, US consumers are not overwhelmingly antagonistic toward the concept of copy-restricted music CDs, provided these CDs come with the proper incentives." This conclusion is drawn in a forthcoming report called "Digital Rights: Content Ownership and Distribution."

"Proper…

FCC Approves "IBOC" Digital Radio

Beginning early next year, digital satellite radio startups may have some competition from terrestrial broadcasters, thanks to an October 10 decision by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).

On that day, the agency approved "In-Band, On-Channel" (IBOC) digital broadcasting technology, developed by iBiquity Digital Corporation. Also called "HD Radio," the digital technique is said to elevate the sound quality of AM signals to better than that of present FM, and to raise FM quality to CD level. The FCC's approval of the digital technique is the first significant change to radio…

Another Reprieve for Small Webcasters?

Small webcasters have won another reprieve from royalty payments.

On Friday, October 25, SoundExchange, an organization established by the music industry to collect and distribute royalty payments, announced that it would hold off collecting royalties from webcasters until the US Senate reconvenes to consider legislation that would codify a rate approved by the music industry, a webcasters' organization, and the US House of Representatives.

A reduced rate agreed to by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and the Voice of Webcasters (VOW) was unanimously approved by a…

SDMI Evaluating Hundreds of Submitted Hacks

With $60,000 in award money as incentive, the hacker community is helping the Secure Digital Music Initiative find out just how secure six proposed watermarking technologies really are. On October 12, as SDMI representatives were testing the audibility of three of the watermarks, the organization announced the closure of a month-long challenge it had offered hackers: break the code. According to the terms of the challenge, each defeated technology will mean $10,000 to a successful hacker.

Despite calls for a boycott of the challenge by some prominent hackers, 447 submissions were received…

Added to the Archives This Week

This week we have two John Atkinson speaker reviews from the February 2004 issue. First, JA gets his hands on the B&W 705 loudspeaker, commenting, "When I heard about the company's new 700 series of speakers, based on the technology featured in their cost-no-object Nautilus series but priced to sell in the real world, I asked to review the $1500/pair 705."

Next, JA takes a stab at the budget-priced Klipsch RB-15 loudspeaker. Can one glimpse audio nirvana with a 5.25" woofer and a horn-loaded 1" titanium-dome tweeter? JA says, "At $300/pair, there has to be some compromise." He explains…

Added to the Archives This Week:

Ethics and high-end audio have always been a tangled web---especially when it comes to deciding whether to purchase equipment from a helpful local dealer or trying to find the best price possible. In the web reprint of February 1999's "The Final Word," Stereophile's publisher emeritus, Larry Archibald, examines a recent high-end purchase of his own to shed a little light on the dilemma faced by the audiophile grinding for a great deal. Also included are some choice reader responses.

Next, we bring you the first installment of John Atkinson's comprehensive three-part "Measuring…

If At First You Don't Succeed . . .

When we received notice several days ago from Panasonic that the company was finally releasing its DVD-Audio players next month, we filed the press release for a couple of days to see if it would last the week (see previous story). Apparently, the products are still a go. Panasonic says it will offer a full line of DVD-Audio/Video models under both the Panasonic and Technics brand names, with the first units arriving in stores in July. As previously announced back in August 1999, the Panasonic DVD-A7 will have a suggested retail price of $999.95, and the Technics DVD-A10 will have an SRP…

iTunes Becomes Seventh Largest Music Retailer

At stereophile.com, John Atkinson, Jon Iverson, and I troll the Internet constantly looking for audio-related news, so on November 21,when I spotted an article by John Borland about iTunes outselling traditional retail record outlets like Tower and Borders, I passed it on to the other two without even thinking about it.

"Sounds worth a story," JA suggested. And it was, but it turned out not to be the story most of the media was telling.

Borland reported that the NPD Group had released a survey that compared album downloads at iTunes to complete album purchases at ordinary record…

Reference Recordings Bought By Dorian

It's been a rough year for the music industry—and possibly an even rougher one for audiophile labels. The Dorian Group, however, seems to be thriving. Parent company to Dorian Recordings, the Dorian Group announced last week its acquisition of Reference Recordings. During its 25 years in business, RR has consistently garnered praise from audiophiles for the sound quality of its recordings, and has scored eight Grammy nominations and two Grammy awards.

Dorian reports that RR's identity and key staff will remain intact, including the label's famed recording engineer, Keith Johnson. The…

Liquid Audio and Billboard Online Announce Web Audio Deal

Billboard Magazine announced an agreement this week with Liquid Audio, a developer of secure music-delivery systems on the Internet, to make Billboard's extensive database of album reviews and audio previews available through Billboard Online. The audio portion will be provided in Liquid Audio format by the Music Previews Network, the company that provides Music Previews for Billboard Online.

Billboard is opening its album-review archives (dating back to 1948 and encompassing tens of thousands of albums in all genres) to users on the Internet at no charge. Previously, access had been…