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A merger announced Wednesday, July 12 by Columbia, Maryland–based USA Digital Radio and Lucent Digital Radio of Warren, New Jersey may hasten the creation of a unified US standard for terrestrial digital radio, according to industry analysts. The merger was approved by the National Radio Systems Committee, which is in charge of developing a set of digital radio specifications for the US. It was also backed by 15 companies involved in the rollout of digital radio, including Viacom Inc.'s Infinity Broadcasting Corp. and Clear Channel Communications, Inc.
Chip manufacturer ESS Technology is no stranger to audiophiles interested in new formats. It was responsible for one of the first "universal" SACD/DVD-Audio decoding chips and more recently was the supplier of a special-purpose chip for Linn's SACD "Silver Disk Engine" designs.
The latest format to gain ESS' attention is Advanced Audio Coding (AAC), which, the company reports, it is now integrating into its Vibratto DVD chip family. AAC, an audio compression technology that is part of the MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 standard specifications, was developed by AT&T, Dolby Laboratories, Fraunhofer…
For Listening #5, Art Dudley tackles audio moderation, Lowther Land, and the audio puritans spying on the nudists next door. AD also explains the statement, "Just because I have a job in the lunch line doesn't mean I have to keep serving the kid who shows off for his friends by spitting out his food."
Next, Barry Willis' "As We See It" from the May 2003 issue explains the basis for Hi-Rez Audio's Uncertain Future. As BW notes, "The audio systems owned and enjoyed by most people aren't capable of delivering the full performance encoded in ordinary CDs," so who's gonna want hi-rez?
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Montreal audiophiles are a hardy lot. Last winter, the city experienced the most devastating ice storm in its history, with power lines demaged to the point that almost the entire city was plunged in darkness. At the time of the 1998 Festival du Son et de l'Image (aka the Montreal Audio/Video Show), residents were still recovering from the effects of the storm. Did this calamity stop the show? No way! By all accounts, the 1998 show was the most successful in the event's 11-year history. I missed it myself, but I made sure that I wouldn't miss the next one.
The following "sneak post-view…
A recent study by analysts Customer Growth Partners has found that department stores, specialty retailers, and other chains that fill US shopping malls accounted for just 19% of total retail sales in 2002, down from 38% in 1995. Mall-based retailers accounted for 22% of 2001's retail sales.
The study also reveals that of the $766 billion in sales from the 40 largest US retailers in 2002, stand-alone retailers such as Wal-Mart and Home Depot accounted for $617 billion. According to the researchers, "Conventional malls that are anchored by department stores are dinosaurs, as out of step…
Jan Berry, of '60s surf music duo Jan and Dean, died Friday, March 26 at UCLA Medical Center, after suffering a seizure at his home in Brentwood. He was 62.
Berry and partner Dean Torrance recorded a string of pop hits in the early-to-mid-1960s, including "Dead Man's Curve," "Drag City," "Honolulu Lulu," "New Girl in School," "The Little Old Lady From Pasadena," and "Surf City." Their most productive years were 1963 and 1964, in which Jan and Dean enjoyed five Top 10 hits.
Sounding similar to the Beach Boys, with whom they recorded and performed, the pair sold more than 10 million…
Vacuum Tube Valley, "The Classic Tube Electronics Journal & Tube Audio Electronics Resource," is hosting the VTV Audio and Music Expo at the Piscataway Embassy Suites May 6–7, 2006. (Embassy Suites, 121 Centennial Avenue, Piscataway, NJ 08854. Tel: (732) 980-0500.)
Over 40 audio manufacturers, including many tube component and speaker companies, are scheduled to exhibit their wares, including several who have donated products to be given away as door prizes. There will also be vendor tables available for the sale of tubes, vintage hi-fi equipment, and other audiophile merchandise.…
Last week, the Electronic Frontier Foundation's (EFF) Fred von Lohmann talked with us about how fair use created unexpected riches for Hollywood, created the iPod boom, and how dismantling it could prove disastrous for consumers. This week, we resume that conversation with a discussion about digital rights management (DRM) and why the computer industry is willing to support it, even though its consumers never asked for it.
WP: I was wondering about David Birch, the computer journalist who stood up at a DRM conference in Barcelona and asked, "Why don't you tell the content owners to just…
Sudden awareness of free digital downloadable music on the Internet sent the music industry into a panic last year. The Secure Digital Music Initiative, a coalition of record labels, software companies, and electronics manufacturers, worked overtime developing standards for encrypting music in an attempt to thwart piracy. Preliminary guidelines for copyright protection were issued in June. Most recently, the SDMI completed a series of listening tests intended to find the least intrusive form of encryption. The organization seemed to present a united front in the anti-piracy war.
Such…
An archive of articles that the late Michael Gerzon wrote for Hi-Fi News and Studio Sound magazines has been established at the website of Hi-Fi News consultant technical editor Keith Howard.
Michael Gerzon, who died in 1996, is widely regarded as one of the most important thinkers and writers on audio of recent times. In the 1970s, for example, Gerzon established the mathematical basis for surround-sound reproduction, leading to the launch of Ambisonics as a means of re-creating a true soundfield at the listener's ear. In more recent years, he was a co-developer of the MLP lossless…