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SACD Software Boost

It's hard enough for established record labels both big and small these days. With the high-resolution audio formats SACD and DVD-Audio still fighting each other and struggling to launch, picking sides is an even bigger gamble for a brand-new record label's first releases.

Despite the odds, SFS Media has decided to do just that. The new label is the official outlet for recordings by the San Francisco Symphony (SFS), whose music director, Michael Tilson Thomas, conducts the group in Gustav Mahler's Symphony No.6 for its debut release, slated for February 5.

The disc was recorded live…

Lydstrom's "Next Generation CD Player" will Handle 5000 Songs

If Lydstrom, Inc. has anything to do with it, the next hot ticket in home audio won't be just another CD player, but a musical database manager capable of organizing and playing as many as 5000 songs, from CDs or from Internet downloads. The Boston, Massachusetts-based company announced June 30 that it has licensed Lucent Technologies' Enhanced Perceptual Audio Coder (ePAC) for inclusion in a product as yet unnamed but projected to be available by Christmas 1999.

The device is "targeted at the growing market for networked home entertainment systems," according to a news release, and will…

Breaking the Code

On July 4, a Brazilian website apparently posted some tools that allowed users of InterVideo's WinDVD to pull copy-protected data off DVD-Audio discs and store it on the user's hard drive rather than simply routing it to a sound card. According to Afterdawn, the tools didn't "do the decryption themselves, [but] instead patched WinDVD to output the decrypted stream to disk instead of the sound card."

But don't go off looking to download those tools now—they've been yanked. As "rjamorim" (presumedly the same individual as "MaximA," who is credited with originally distributing the tool set)…

First Watermarking and Now Fingerprinting?

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."

Blame it all on Napster. In an effort that it hopes will keep the music business vultures at bay, the company announced last week that it has signed a…

David Hafler 1919–2003

All of us at Stereophile were saddened to learn of the death of audio pioneer David Hafler, who died Sunday, May 25 of complications of Parkinson's disease at St. Agnes Hospice in Philadelphia. Hafler was 84.

Hafler had an enormous influence on several generations of audiophiles and music lovers. A graduate in mathematics from the University of Pennsylvania, Hafler served as a communications specialist in the Coast Guard during the Second World War. In 1950, he founded Acrosound, a transformer manufacturer. In 1954, he founded Dynaco, a name that became synonymous with good sound and…

First DVD-Audio/Video Players Built to DVD-Audio Specification Announced

Time for early-adopter audiophiles to start saving those pennies. Panasonic has just announced delivery dates and suggested pricing for two DVD-Audio players: the Panasonic DVD-A7 and the Technics DVD-A10. Beginning this October, Panasonic says that both models will be shipped to dealers nationwide, with the DVD-A7 retailing at $999.95 and the DVD-A10 checking in at $1199.95.

Panasonic says that while the DVD-A7 provides "extraordinary audio and video quality," the Technics DVD-A10 is a step above and "designed to address the needs of discriminating audiophiles." As an example, Panasonic…

Vinyl Record Day

"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 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."

So states the official proclamation that vinyl activist Gary Freiberg is holding up before me. The richly illustrated and important looking sheaf of thick paper…

Added to the Archives This Week

With SACD and DVD-Audio rumbling off in the distance, is the high-end CD player dead? Michael Fremer takes a listen to the Musical Fidelity Nu-Vista 3D CD player and reports that the company decided it was "better to concentrate efforts on trying to optimize the sound of the two billion CDs already in play than divert company resources into developing technology and products aimed at an uncertain digital future and an unsettled customer base."

For his Fine Tunes #40, Jonathan Scull takes a trip to France, where he finds that, with the right tweaks, even the most modest of systems can rise…

New 10-Disc Beethoven Piano Sonata Boxed Set Available for Sale On the Web Site

We've just posted something new for sale on Stereophile's Recordings page. But this is not just any new CD release—it's a comprehensive 10-CD boxed set of Robert Silverman performing the 32 Beethoven Piano Sonatas, recorded by our very own John Atkinson. Cheapskates rejoice: the complete 10-disc set retails for a very reasonable $65, bringing the price of each CD in the box to a mere $6.50.

The boxed set has been released on the Canadian Orpheum Masters label and is officially titled Ludwig van Beethoven's 32 Piano Sonatas (Orpheum Masters KSP830). Beautifully packaged, the set includes…

Day 2 of the 2000 CES

High-end audio in trouble? That's been the consensus the last few years, but the sheer number of new products at this year's Consumer Electronics Show hints at a steady trend in the opposite direction. New developments in power conditioning abound, and several brave companies are even testing the SACD/DSD and DVD-Audio waters.

Transparent Audio is demonstrating several power conditioners, including the new four-outlet Power Isolator ($1500), and other products aimed at the custom installation and home-theater markets. Transparent also had a new line of in-wall speaker wire on hand, with…