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R U Ready to Rock?

Hot Licks: Add another title to UmixIt's catalog of DualDisc Enhanced DVD/CDs: Aerosmith guitarist Joe Perry's eponymous solo album, his first since 1984.

UmixIt-enabled discs allow musically minded listeners to load selected songs into their PCs and manipulate the individual tracks of the studio session to create a mix that meets their criteria for sonic success—which might or might not be more "accurate" than the official release. Within the listeners' computers, the tracks are uncompressed, but only compressed MP3 files can be exported to CD-R or MP3 players.

Perry seems impressed…

Lenbrook Announces Acquisition of High-End A/V Manufacturer Sonic Frontiers Inc.

The Lenbrook Group of Pickering, Ontario, Canada announced March 25 that it will acquire Sonic Frontiers of Oakville, Ontario, Canada. This acquisition, effective May 1, 1998, is an extension of Lenbrook's commitment to enhance its position in the international specialty A/V segment of the consumer electronics industry. A new company, Sonic Frontiers International (SFI), will be formed to leverage Lenbrook's strengths with Sonic Frontiers' market position in the high-end segment of the audio business.

Sonic Frontiers was founded 10 years ago by President and CEO Christopher Johnson and…

Added to the Archives This Week

While recording the Encore CD for Stereophile, John Atkinson had to decide: "Should I add some artificial reverberation?" After much gnashing of teeth, he plowed ahead. Read about the process in "Encore," an in-depth look at the recording techniques, the artists, and the music.

Next, Thomas J. Norton takes a look at how one high-end loudspeaker company is making the transition to home theater and surround sound in his review of the Vandersteen Music-and-Cinema loudspeaker system. In the final analysis, does an audiophile company's speakers sound better with music or with film?

CEMA Releases Latest Sales Stats

According to the Consumer Electronics Manufacturers Association (CEMA), the month of August saw hot increases in the sales of audio products. Factory sales of audio products rose 7%, to $694 million, equaling year-to-date revenues of $4.7 billion, slightly ahead of the first eight months of 1998.

CEMA reports that the portable audio category made a huge comeback in August, with sales increasing 9%, to $216 million. CEMA says that contributing to this comeback are the sales of portable CD headset units, which grew 26% in August, to $68 million. The sales of home radios and analog tape…

Middelhoff Departs Bertelsmann

Late July was a volatile period for the music industry. On the 29th, Bertelsmann CEO Thomas Middelhoff announced his resignation. The "young lion" who ushered the German media conglomerate into the Internet age—and into an ill-advised $100 million investment in now-forgotten Napster—apparently had a very different vision for the future of the company than does the Mohn family, which controls 75% of Bertelsmann stock. "Shareholders had mid- and long-term development prospects that were different from mine," Middelhoff told reporters. "In this context, I had no choice but to resign."…

DVD-A Gets a Kick

At its January CES presentation, Sony announced that this is the year that SACD will roll out big time to the masses. News from EMI/Capitol and Silverline Records would suggest that DVD-Audio may not be far behind, at least as far as available software is concerned.

EMI/Capitol Records announced last week that, on June 18, they will be taking "the second step" in their ongoing campaign to offer classic recordings in "advanced resolution surround sound, re-mixed to optimize playback on high-end surround systems as well as home theater systems." In addition to high-rez sound, the new discs…

Verance Reconfirmed as SDMI Standard

The Secure Digital Music Initiative has decided to reconfirm San Diego–based Verance Corporation's watermarking technology as its choice for inhibiting piracy in digitally recorded music. The May 21 announcement was made by the SDMI Plenary after a year-long campaign to evaluate the effectiveness and audibility of watermarks from 14 different vendors. The group has also apparently decided to halt further research and development efforts, which have been widely blamed for hobbling the rollout of DVD-Audio.

"While the SDMI has decided to forego Phase II of its program, Verance is gratified…

Sony Tries to Connect

While Apple's iTunes and RealNetworks Rhapsody are battling it out in the music download ring (see related story), and Microsoft is rumored to be eyeing a corner, Sony has now decided to join the fray with a new music service announced last week in Europe.

At one time, Sony was the king of the portable audio player market with its ubiquitous and wide-ranging line of cassette-, FM-, and CD-based walkmans. But more recently, Apple's iPod and MP3 players from Creative and others have grabbed the headlines in an ever-changing portable market to which Sony has been slow to adapt.

Until…

Jim Morrison Breaks on Through to Toyland

It may be true that baby-boomers yearn to relive their childhoods, but how many aging wanted-to-be rock stars and music lovers still like to play with dolls? McFarlane Toys, which made its mark creating and marketing Spawn merchandise, is hoping quite a few.

Despite being not long for this mortal coil, Jim Morrison's tenure with The Doors established him as one of rock'n'roll's pre-eminent, if controversial, frontmen. He died in France 30 years ago this month, and to commemorate the occasion, McFarlane says that "the Lizard King will forever live on" with the Jim Morrison "action figure…

Music for Rent: BMG Signs Web Deal with FullAudio

Here's an audio riddle for you. Question: What's erasable but not recordable? Answer: Downloadable music from FullAudio Corporation.

The Chicago-based Internet music startup has just signed a three-year licensing agreement with BMG Music Publishing, a division of the German media conglomerate Bertelsmann AG. BMG inked the deal in early June with privately-held FullAudio in part because the company's business model allows subscribers to download a fixed number of songs per month for a fixed monthly fee, but doesn't allow them to transfer the songs to recordable CDs or any other type of…