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At the moment, music fans who want to add to their collections by trolling the Internet are limited to bootlegs of dubious quality and legality, low-resolution shareware from innumerable unsigned bands, and teaser samples intended to help sell CDs by mail. Despite the subject's near-constant presence in the media, sales of downloadable music amounted to only about $1 million in 1999—as compared to total music sales of approximately $13 billion. The trickle of business is in large part due to reluctance by the music industry to open up its vaults because of a lack of copyright protection.
One of the challenging attributes of the new DVD-Audio format is the ability to release music in high-resolution multichannel (four or more) sound. For some this will be a thorny issue: Can previously released recordings be remixed to take advantage of the extra channels without sounding gimmicky? Should classical and/or live recordings use the surround channels for concert-hall ambience? How long will it be until consumers even care about setting up their systems to take advantage of more than two full-bandwidth channels?
Give artists a new tool like multichannel sound, however, and some…
If you're an audiophile—and let's face it, who else would be reading this—then you know what any hard-core audioweenie would do when visiting a strange city. Visit the hi-fi shops, of course.
Even if it's your first visit to China and you're only there for four days.
I recently visited Shenzhen, with a brief holdover in Hong Kong and the New Territories, and being about as hard-core as they come, it never occurred to me to demur when my hosts suggested I spend two precious afternoons of my China trip visiting audio emporia. In fact, I looked forward to it.
Shenzhen, or more…
In a pre–Consumer Electronics Show announcement, Texas Instruments says it has integrated its FireWire (IEEE1394), multichannel audio digital signal processor (DSP), and digital amplifier technologies in a single board to demonstrate an all-digital audio system from source to speaker.
In a press release, TI states that "By combining these technologies onto one board, TI is demonstrating to manufacturers how they can more easily build a high-resolution audio system, such as an A/V receiver or DVD receiver, that incorporates all of the latest features required by discriminating audiophiles…
You've got to give the audiophiles who post at the Audio Asylum online forum credit. Not only is AA one of the more informative and constructive audiophile communities, some of its members provide the audio industry much-needed feedback on how it's doing—for better or worse.
Last week, several AA regulars discovered a potential problem with some recent SACD releases—in particular the new hybrid SACD of Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon. Small cracks were discovered forming around the disc's center spindle hole, often increasing in number over time.
The cracks range in size from…
Tired of the controversy over whether expensive audio cables might make a difference in your system? The best approach would likely be to try a few sets with your own equipment and room and see for yourself. But cost has prevented more than a few audiophiles from spending quality time with the pricey stuff.
Spotting an opportunity, The Cable Company has recently announced that they are opening a new website to serve as an "online buy/sell/trade marketplace" for used high-end audio and video cables at www.usedcable.com. The company says that it can offer a one-year limited warranty and a…
Robert Deutsch says, "There is something special about SETs: a kind of midrange magic, a harmonic rightness that tends to elude other amplifier designs." But how to get more power from a single-ended triode design? In his review of the Air Tight ATM-211 monoblock power amplifier RD discovers one answer.
"Thus it was that those devilish tiny triodes lit their filaments behind mine beady eyes, and the next thing you know...," Jonathan Scull relates, snuggling up to the Lamm Industries ML1 monoblock power amplifier. "Despite its Bomber Command meters, the ML1 is 21st Century under the skin,"…
Following the highly successful release of three Beatles outtakes sets a few years back, Capitol Records announced last week that another set of unreleased recordings, this time from former Beatle John Lennon, will hit stores November 3. The four-disc set will include over 100 home recordings, studio outtakes, and other works never released in public. Titled The John Lennon Anthology, the set was put together with help from Lennon's widow, Yoko Ono, and their son Sean Lennon. Also included will be 60 pages of notes, including art, writings, and photos.
It was also revealed last week that…
The owners of Spanish website Puretunes.com are the latest to feel the wrath of the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) in its campaign to rid the world of unauthorized music. The site's parent company, Sakfield Holding, will defend itself against a lawsuit filed July 3 in the US District Court for the District of Columbia. The accusation: providing illegal downloads.
The site went live in May, offering what the RIAA claims are "unlimited" downloads of copyrighted recordings. A loophole in Spanish intellectual property law allowed it to do so, according to reports in early…
Judging from the e-mail Wes Phillips has received since announcing Classic Records' 24-bit/96kHz "DADs" (DVD-Videos utilizing the two channels of 24/96 written into the video standard), audiophiles appear to be intensely curious about the new music format.
Classic Records, in conjunction with various hardware manufacturers, is taking their new offerings to the people---they are scheduling demonstrations with audiophile societies and hi-fi stores "throughout the world" (their words).
If you would like to attend a demonstration, or are affiliated with an organization interested in…