According to the companies, MusicMatch Jukebox ($29.99) allows users to build collections of "CD-quality" digital music on their PCs, consisting of music downloaded over the Internet and tracks recorded from music CDs. Customers can use the program to organize the files into a digital audio database on their PC, and use it to create customized play lists. The Jukebox music can be played…
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In an effort to make computers more useful as audio systems, MusicMatch and Xing Technology recently announced MusicMatch Jukebox, a digital audio management software program for the consumer market.
Despite the best efforts of Federal Reserve Board Chairman Alan Greenspan to extend an unprecedented economic boom, the nation's economy is slowing. The slowdown is causing negative repercussions in many sectors—including the music retailing business and consumer electronics manufacturing.
Almost coincident with inventory and workforce cutbacks initiated by Amazon.com, the Internet's most prominent sales site, music retailer CDnow announced that it will eliminate 55 jobs in its advertising sales force, a 12% reduction. The belt-tightening is part of a general restructuring by the music…
Recorded music was a $14.3 billion business in the United States last year, according to the newly published 2000 Consumer Profile from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). Released March 13, the report details who music buyers are, what they are buying, and how much they are spending.
Rock still dominates the market, according to the report, with more than 25% of music buyers identifying themselves as rock fans. The genre has long been the industry's top seller, but the rap/hip hop genre has made big gains recently, overtaking Country music as second in popularity. A…
One argument for the record industry's disappointing sales last year is a combination of high prices for official CD releases coupled with cheap prices for computer-based CD recorders and CD-R blanks. It doesn't look like retail CD prices will be coming down anytime soon, but luckily for the music business, CD-R prices are going up.
Memorex, one of the largest suppliers of CD-R blank media to the retail market, revealed last week a number of reasons that it says are responsible for inevitable CD-R price increases expected later in 2001. Along with the traditional excuses, such as…
Disc piracy is a profitable but increasingly risky business, with bootlegging-related shootings and armed robberies on the rise. Modern pirates have begun to imitate their sea-going ancestors, using force to acquire assets and territory.
On Tuesday, November 20, police in New York City reported the death of Guinean immigrant Ablia Diallo, who was killed in a robbery of a Manhattan office filled with counterfeit CDs and DVDs, including copies of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets and 8 Mile, two recently-released commercial films.
The incident hasn't been linked to the July…
We live in a world of strife. Among the many organizations working to change this regrettable fact are the Committee of 100 for Tibet (C100) and the Dalai Lama Foundation (DLF), which together are curating and producing a large-scale art exhibition that will have its official debut at UCLA's Fowler Museum in June 2006. A preview show of The Missing Peace: The Dalai Lama Portrait Project will take place at the Cantor Center for Arts at Stanford University in September 2005, to coincide with a visit to that institution by the Dalai Lama, exiled spiritual leader of the Tibetan people.
After…
The 2nd Annual Southern California Hi-Fi Swap takes place on Sunday, February 22, 9am-1pm, at the Sequoia Athletic Club and Conference Center, 7530 Orangethorpe Avenue in Buena Park, one block north of Knotts Berry Farm and the 91 freeway on the corner of Beach and Orangethorpe.
Lots of vintage tube gear and tubes, high-end, etc. Free drawing for a pair of $250 item courtesy of Tek Line. Dr. Bruce Edgar will demo his 35Hz subwoofer horn, round horn, and TAD driver, and 75Hz midbass horn, on single-ended tube gear from Electra Print.
There will also be a major record/CD show next…
A recent report from Jupiter Communications claims that by the year 2002, fully 55% of the US population and 32% of European households will be browsing the Internet. Not only will this change the way poeple gather information for everything from fish food to concert schedules, it will also profoundly affect the way they shop.
What this means for the high-end audio equipment business is not entirely clear, since few companies embrace any form of distribution not tied to protected territories and hands-on support. There have been some exceptions, with both Audio Advisor and now Carver…
Writing 30 years ago, in the November, 1971 issue, J. Gordon Holt tried to anticipate the cries of Sellout!? as Stereophile began taking its first ads from dealers. Holt wrote, "Before you throw your hands up in horror . . . bear with us for another couple of paragraphs while we explain why this decision on our part need not prompt you to cancel your subscription immediately."
A few years later, in 1978, Holt explained why Stereophile could finally say We Did It!. JGH wrote "High Fidelity and Stereo Review are still trying to conceal from their subscribers the fact that some…
Two years after they were first announced, DVD-Audio discs may finally be on their way from major labels.
In mid-August, Warner Brothers Records announced the release of Paul Simon's You're the One in the new format. Originally released last year as a two-channel CD, the material for the new disc has been remastered in the six-channel Advanced Resolution Surround Sound format. The DVD-A is compatible with Dolby Digital and DTS 5.1 decoders, or can be played back as a high-resolution two-channel recording, according to the Warner Brothers statement.
Music lovers with CD players only…