The year 2000 has seen a rather soft launch for the new DVD-A format, and with this in mind, IRMA's Charles Van Horn adds that "the year 2001 will be the most likely introduction year, as replicators plan to have available some 40 million units for the new DVD-A players…
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According to a recent report released by the International Recording Media Association (IRMA), with the gradual introduction of players for the developing DVD-Audio format finally taking place, the software replication industry can expect an "accelerated growth rate" for DVD-A titles around the world in the next two years.
Circuit City turnaround: After a long slump, the Richmond, VA–based retail chain is finally on an upswing. The company reported a 7% increase in sales for the first fiscal quarter, ended May 31—a total of $2.1 billion. Same-store sales rose 6.4%. The total included $21.5 million in revenue from InterTan, a group of Canadian stores acquired by Circuit City on May 12. Circuit City's strongest product categories were flat-panel TVs, digital cameras, computer gear, and portable audio players.
Ultimate still down: The Denver-based upscale retailer is still in the doldrums, reporting a net loss…
Convinced that your favorite music would have sounded even better if you'd been the mixing engineer? UmixIt Technologies is going to let you put your money where your mouth is.
How does that work? UmixIt CDs (or DVDs) contain a recording's original audio tracks, an 8-track version of the material, a 16-track version, and a selection of royalty-free loops formatted for ACID. The discs also contain the Cakewalk Media Mixer application. Slip the disc into your computer's disc drive and it will prompt you to install the song(s) and the application. The 8-track version of the recorded material…
Stereophile writers and editors were saddened to learn of the June 27 death of colleague Timothy White, editor-in-chief of Billboard magazine. White collapsed of an apparent heart attack in an elevator at Billboard's New York offices and died shortly thereafter at St. Vincent's Hospital. He was 50.
White had edited the venerable music industry publication for the past 11 years, having been hired by publisher Howard Lander "to better serve the music industry as it began a journey through a decade of enormous change." A 1972 graduate of Fordham University, White honed his journalistic…
The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) and Warner Bros. Records announced January 8 that they have entered into a five-year record and television program funding partnership. The arrangement launches the PBS Records label, a new venture that will fuel the production of PBS performance programs and companion recordings. In addition, PBS Records will present music soundtracks from major PBS nonfiction series.
The announcement was made by Ervin S. Duggan, PBS president and chief executive officer, at the semiannual Television Critics Association press tour at the Ritz Carlton Huntington…
SACD and DVD-Audio have brought multichannel music back into the mix for many audiophiles. However, without an official digital connection standard in place, consumers must contend with multiple cables and then find a preamp designed to manage the analog signals and send them to various amplifiers.
As any audio purist will note, the best way to do that is leave the signal in the analog domain. And, many tube fans contend, the best way to do that is via tubes. Enter the Fosgate Audionics limited edition FAP V1 vacuum-tube surround processor, due to ship in September.
FA describes…
The dawning of the age of inexpensive universal DVD-Audio/SACD/CD players may finally be upon us. Cirrus Logic recently announced the introduction of their CS4392 integrated circuit chip, which the company describes as a high-performance Crystal digital/analog converter that "delivers unrivaled sound quality while providing manufacturers a cost-effective solution for next-generation DVD-based audio products including DVD-Audio and Super Audio CD (SACD) players."
Cirrus says that the CS4392 will cost manufacturers only $2.80 each in OEM quantities, and will be shipping before the end of the…
Job cutbacks are one inevitable result of sustained sales declines. In late March, the ailing music industry began to shed excess workers in an effort to reach profitability, with Sony Music and Bertelsmann Music Group announcing significant reductions in their workforces.
On Friday, March 28, Sony Music Entertainment began laying off about 1000 employees, including workers in sales, manufacturing, and distribution. The cutbacks are part of a restructuring initiated by the company's new chairman and chief executive, Andrew Lack. The former president of NBC took the helm at Sony Music in…
Like the proverbial camel who took over the tent after getting just his nose in, it appears that once copy protection is given an inch, it will inevitably try to get in all the way. At least that's how it appears with an increasing variety of CD copy protection systems now currently being tested en masse by the major record labels. Latest to announce a new "evaluation agreement" is BMG Entertainment, which will use and evaluate SunnComm's MediaCloQ "digital content cloaking technology", first put to the test earlier in the year on a Charley Pride CD (see previous).
SunnComm claims that…
Drummer Billy Higgins started his remarkable career backing up R&B musicians such as Amos Milburn and Bo Diddley around the LA area before embarking on his jazz path with the Jazz Messengers (led by Don Cherry and saxophonist James Clay) and Dexter Gordon. But it was his association with Ornette Coleman, starting in the mid 1950s, that electrified the jazz world and made him a force to reckon with. His first recordings, with Coleman and Red Mitchell, were released in 1958. In 1959, he performed with both Coleman in New York and Thelonious Monk in San Francisco, and from that point on,…