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The buzz about digital audio downloads from the Internet would lead one to think that the only way we'll be buying music in the not-too-distant future is through the Web. But the reality this past holiday season looks quite different. Reuters is running stories saying that there was "No Santa for the Internet Music Industry," and record companies attempting to get online are having a tough time (see related item). MP3 for Dummies author Andy Rathbone states bluntly: "It [the digital music business] hasn't taken off as much as analysts expected," and EMI Records' Jay Alan Samit laments, "…
One of the more interesting displays at Home Entertainment 2001 was a small booth belonging to West Hollywood, CA–based AIX Media Group, which was manned by company president Mark Waldrep. At the show, Waldrep discussed his work in creating DVD-Audio recordings with multiple perspectives, selectable by the listener via remote control.
Waldrep mentioned the possibility of mixing multi-miked recordings and encoding them on the disc in such a way that one could move from a more distant perspective to a close-up, possibly in sync with a video. A music fan with the proper equipment might be…
Sure, we review a lot of big-bucks equipment in Stereophile, but readers constantly remind us to try the cheaper stuff as well. John Atkinson does exactly that in his review of the Acoustic Energy Aegis One loudspeaker. As JA puts it, "Acoustic Energy has introduced the Aegis One; its price is one-tenth that of the AE1 in its current, Signature guise. Does the Aegis One live up to what its heritage promises? I asked the company's US distributor, Audiophile Systems, to send me a pair so I could find out."
Jonathan Scull requests that readers shut their systems down, remove their…
Anyone who's been shopping recently won't be surprised to learn that China is now the biggest supplier of electronics to the US. Within the past three years, the massive Asian nation has surpassed Japan, Mexico, and Korea to claim the top spot. During the same period, US exports of high technology have dropped 25%, according to figures released June 19 by the American Electronics Association, now known as "AeA."
The group reported that US high-tech exports sagged to $166 billion in 2002, with a $54 billion high-tech trade deficit on the books as of the end of last year. The situation has…
Hundreds of manufacturers will be demonstrating state-of-the-art audio products at HI-FI '98---some of which have never before been seen by the public. We're running several announcements each week leading up to the Show to give you a taste of what to expect. Here's the fourth assortment:
Martin-Logan
A major treat for Showgoers: a chance to hear Martin-Logan's new top-of-the-line model, the Statement---Evolution 2. Martin-Logan has used the "Statement" name before to identify their flagship model, and the "Evolution 2" suffix denotes radical changes from its predecessor.
A…
The Federal Communications Commission is fighting an epidemic called "microradio." The agency has closed 250 unlicensed stations in the past year, most of them low-powered urban pip-squeaks with less than 100W of power and broadcast radii of 10 miles or less. The typical microradio station offers an off-center perspective on local, national, and world events to a listenership of a few hundred people, and loses money in the process.
The Commission has often expressed its belief that "the airwaves belong to the people," but the wave of consolidations that swept through the broadcasting…
On Wednesday, September 11, the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) filed a brief with the U.S. Copyright Office seeking relief from the implementation of a webcasting royalty schedule announced this summer by the Librarian of Congress, James Billington. In June, Billington determined that commercial stations streaming their musical programming on the Internet should pay a rate of .07 cents per song per 1000 listeners, a rate less than half that suggested by the music industry–backed Copyright Arbitration Royalty Panel.
The NAB has asked for a postponement of royalty collections…
Digital radio company American Mobile Radio Corporation announced last Wednesday that it has exercised a $52.9 million option to upgrade its satellites. The move will potentially double the channel capacity of AMRC's nationwide satellite-direct audio radio service (SDARS), scheduled for the year 2000.
AMRC will use two geosynchronous communications satellites made by Hughes Space & Communications, Inc. "The Max Power satellite is the most powerful commercial satellite available today," said Pete Lauenstein, AMRC Program Manager for Hughes. "It is the new standard for robust…
After three years in limbo, Threshold will make an official return to the audio market at the upcoming Consumer Electronics Show. The new company's initial emphasis will be on professional equipment with crossover appeal for audiophiles, according to Threshold's former national sales manager Chris English, a principal in the new venture. A name for the new company has yet to be decided.
English has been quietly but diligently working to revive Threshold since financial problems scuttled the company in late 1997. A service center—which will be folded in with Threshold's new manufacturing…
The Rounder Records Group, one of the largest independent record labels in the US, has signed on with Liquid Audio for digital music distribution on the Internet. As of April 28, Rounder will offer a substantial portion of its catalog for sale by digital download.
More than 10,000 songs by hundreds of folk, blues, bluegrass, reggae, and zydeco artists will be made available for promotion and sale to music lovers via the Internet. The Rounder catalog is also available to retailers and music sites to resell to consumers through Liquid Audio's distribution services---including www.rounder.…