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Copy Protection Based on Obsolete Model?

Copy protection efforts currently being initiated by national lawmakers at the behest of the entertainment industry are based on a model of Internet use that will soon become obsolete, according to Stanford law professor Lawrence Lessig.

In the near future, it will be far easier for music fans to tap into a universal content library than it will be to accumulate audio files and manage them as databases, he claims—all that's needed is wider penetration of high-speed broadband connections.

On Wednesday, February 19, speaking at the Digital Rights Summit at Intel Corporation headquarters…

Added to the Archives This Week:

Step all the way back to issue number one of Stereophile, in which Lucius Wordburger proffers some sage advice on How to Write an Ad. Learn about The Endorsement (hint: don't use Fidel Castro), The Calculated Omission, and The Junk Product.

Next, we bring Web readers the conclusion of a three-part series that attempts to reveal how Stereophile's audio writers practice their craft. The final installment, titled "As Reviewers See It," hails from the summer of 1991 and includes newcomer Corey Greenberg. John Atkinson poses the challenge: Is telling the audio truth synonymous with being…

Music Downloads and Apathy

Certain ideas (or memes in Internet jargon) seem to achieve instantaneous critical mass, at least if you judge them by how frequently certain web URLs are transmitted among friends. One article that appeared in our inbox many times this week linked us to research by music psychologist Adrian North of the University of Leicester, who led a team of researchers who monitored 346 people for two weeks, evaluating how they related to music.

North concluded, "The accessibility of music has meant that it is taken for granted and does not require a deep emotional commitment once associated with…

Arista Records Faces Tough Sledding in Davis's Absence

One of the most astute bits of folk wisdom is the old saying "If it ain't broke, don't fix it."

Top management at BMG Entertainment might have taken this into consideration last year when their slavish devotion to a company-wide mandatory retirement policy resulted in the ouster of legendary music producer Clive Davis. Arista had been one of the most successful labels in a desperate and volatile business, with top talent like Carlos Santana and Whitney Houston on its roster. Despite his track record and obvious youthful energy, Davis's age—he was nearing 70—caused certain executives at…

Philips and Marantz Japan Re-Shuffle Brand Ownership

Last week, Philips Electronics and Marantz Japan jointly announced that Marantz Japan intends to buy the Marantz trademark, as well as the European and American sales organizations, from Philips. The companies say that the transaction is due to take effect in the coming months. In addition, Philips says it intends to sell shares equal to 1.5% of all shares held in Marantz Japan, effectively reducing its ownership percentage from 50.5% to 49%.

In addition to Marantz America, Philips currently owns the European sales organizations for Marantz, located in the Netherlands, UK, Germany, France…

Speaker Design Contest Open to the Public

Attention all you amateur speaker designers furiously creating the world's next revolutionary crossover or cabinet design in your garage: Meniscus Audio, a manufacturer of loudspeakers that sells directly to consumers through mail-order marketing programs, has announced a loudspeaker design contest that offers the winner the opportunity to have his or her design developed for distribution as a kit. First- and second-place prizes will also be awarded.

Entrants are invited to submit designs for any variety of passive loudspeaker weighing not more than 150 lbs. Entries should include a…

NHT Bounces Back

In its nearly two decades, Benicia, CA–based loudspeaker manufacturer NHT has earned a well-deserved reputation for affordable high-performance products, among them legendary mini-monitors, such as the Super Zero and Super One, as well as its full-range Model 3.3. Founded by Ken Kantor and Chris Byrne in 1986, the company was sold to Jensen International in the early 1990s, spun off to packaged goods specialist Recoton, and acquired by Rockford Corporation in the final days of 2002—an event that saved NHT from an uncertain fate.

The final few months under the Recoton flag were among the…

<I>Stereophile</I> Links Database Now Online

Every week we get an e-mail or two from online readers begging for a state-of-the-art set of searchable weblinks on the Stereophile website. Starting this week, your e-prayers have been answered. The Stereophile website now sports one of the Internet's most comprehensive set of qualified audio and video links---as of last count, they number more than 2500. The database is searchable in a variety of ways, and also groups similar categories.

About a year ago, Stereophile procured and began maintaining The Enthusiasts Page and its links database, originally developed by Ron Rathe. For the…

Online Purchases Increase

If you find yourself purchasing more new audio gear online each year, you are not alone. A recent study from the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) reveals that online shopping for consumer electronics products is gaining in popularity. The CEA study finds that an average of 5% of all consumer electronics purchases are made online, with portable audio devices in particular selling more than 10% of product through online channels.

However, common wisdom holds that high-end audio products are best purchased from a reputable specialist brick-and-mortar dealer, who can demonstrate and…

Sony's Awful Week

After posting a round-up of the news about Sony BMG's F4i's XCP digital rights management system (DRM), which hid itself inside consumers' computers' root-kit code, I spent a frantic week simply trying to keep up with all of the breaking news on the issue on my blog. During the week of November 7, I posted no fewer than 9 URLs outlining breaking news on the Sony story. However, by the end of the week, the company was reeling from the news that hackers had managed to install malware (malicious programs that dismantle a computer's firewall protection) on consumers' computers that masked its…