A Tulsa, OK company may have the answer. EnXnet says that its new dual-sided, hybrid optical-disc technology has the "unique feature" of combining two distinct formats of content distribution on one disc. The…
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To combat lackluster CD sales and online file trading, some record labels have been adding bonus DVDs to new releases to get consumers to buy them instead of downloading the data. DVD-Audio proponents, in an attempt to counter Super Audio Compact Disc's single-disc hybrid SACD/CD strategy, have been trying to figure out how to combine CD functionality and DVD-A onto one disc.
We start our survey of small speakers with Robert J. Reina's review of the Paradigm Reference Studio/20 loudspeaker. "Impressive right out of the box" is how Reina charaterizes the two-way design, which gets an in-depth review and also a May 2002 followup from Robert Deutsch.
John Atkinson then takes on the PSB New Stratus Mini commenting, "I feel that small stand-mounted speakers both offer the best value in sound quality, as well as standing the best chance of sounding good in moderate-sized listening rooms." JA checks the Mini from top to bottom.
Next, JA investigates the B&W…
If one were to judge by new high-end audio-product intros at this year's CES, the industry appears to be hopping. So far we're only halfway through the Alexis Park (the home of most high-end audio exhibitors at the Show), but our bags are already overstuffed with brochures. Not surprisingly, a lot of the two-channel manufacturers are branching out to the multichannel market.
Conrad-Johnson is one of the companies adding home-theater processors to their lineups. C-J's new SSP-1 is aimed at a September 2000 release and a retail price of between $4000 and $5000. Also new is what C-J calls…
From the September 1992 issue, Corey Greenberg checks in with a review of the Dynaco Stereo 70 II power amplifier. According to CG, "Panor's Stereo 70 II reissue looks similar to a vintage Dyna, but contains several circuit additions claimed to improve the original design's performance."
Also from the same issue, CG writes up the Nobis Cantabile power amplifier, noting, "In addition to their $2200 Proteus preamp, Nobis has their own take on the classic Dyna Stereo 7, called the Cantabile (pronounced 'Canta-beel'), an old Wisconsin word for 'flowing with melody.'"
Next, Chip Stern…
One of the most significant trends in audio, witnessed at the recent Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, is the emergence of the music server market. Pioneer, Panasonic, Marantz, Meridian, Onkyo, Rotel, Philips, Linn, and others have emphasized audio products that can be networked with each other and the Internet, and are able to share content throughout a home. Pioneer even suggests that networks will not necessarily involve a PC, but instead consist of dedicated music-server-like components.
Onkyo's Integra division wants its customers to have it either way. In September of…
The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) may issue a general amnesty to the music fans who have amassed libraries of favorite tunes by downloading them over the Internet, according to information leaked to Billboard, the Hollywood Reporter, and other publications the first week of September.
The trade association also may be willing to forgive many of those who made the tunes available, provided they delete any ill-gotten music from their computers and promise not to engage in file sharing in the future. Anyone wishing to take advantage of the amnesty offer will be required to…
For technophiles, DVD is the current hot ticket. The compact disc is far from dead, however. The 20-year-old format has been given a new lease on life by Sony Corporation, which in early July announced the development of a new technique that will double the data-storage capacity of recordable CDs.
Intended for the computer market, Sony's new system employs a shorter track pitch and a minimal pit length to increase the capacity of the discs from 650MB (MegaBytes) to 1.3GB (GigaBytes). Although both varieties of disc use a standard 780nm (nanometer) wavelength laser, the numerical aperture…
It's a sobering thought: it was the computer manufacturers and software developers, not the consumer electronics industry, who enabled the biggest audio format since the CD to become popular. The format, which hasn't done much to impress audiophiles, but has greatly enhanced the portability of music, is MP3 and CE manufacturers are only now trying to catch up with products that take advantage of its widespread use.
High-resolution audio is clearly having a tough time catching fire via the normal consumer electronics channels, so perhaps a boost from the computer industry might help in a…
Will the threat of lawsuits have any effect on the file-sharing phenomenon? The music industry hopes and prays that it will. As of July 19, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) had sought and obtained "at least 871 federal subpoenas against computer users . . . with 75 new subpoenas being approved each day," according to an Associated Press report.
Defendants include individuals known only by their screen names, some university and college network administrators, and Internet service providers such as Verizon Communications, Inc. and Comcast Cable Communications, Inc.…
In an "increasingly complicated and competitive media environment," public broadcasting intends to be there. So declared the Corporation for Public Broadcasting on March 30, when it announced an almost $2 million investment in projects for National Public Radio and Public Interactive. CPB has long held the intellectual high ground in broadcasting, and its new investments are intended to continue that tradition. The goal of the program is to create "new content and services which will broaden the public square of ideas and civic discourse," according to a corporate press release.
"…