The music-buying public apparently thinks otherwise. You can't beat the "I want it now!" convenience, and with the ability to cherry-pick only the "good" songs off an album, the pricing seems to add up. You might be thinking, "Kids these days don't know about quality sound any more, and are going to ruin it for the rest…
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On the face of it, 99¢ per track low-rez music downloads don't seem like a good deal. For the same price, or maybe even less, you can get an entire CD of the same music, along with a booklet, and without the Digital Rights Management crippleware that hobbles paid downloads.
We were saddened to learn of the death of audio guru Harvey "Gizmo" Rosenberg, who died Monday, July 16 of an apparent heart attack. He was 59.
Rosenberg fell ill on a plane flight from Chicago to Evansville, IN, where he was headed to audition a new VAIC amplifier design. His hosts reportedly took him to a local medical center where neither the attending physician nor the emergency medical personnel who were called in were able to postpone the inevitable. The circumstances of his death were "consistent with a major myocardial infarction," according to those on the site. Rosenberg…
All but forgotten in the field of surround sound are the efforts of UK classical music label Nimbus Records. More than 25 years ago, Nimbus recorded with Peter Fellgett and Michael Gerzon's two-channel–compatible, matrixed UHJ Ambisonic Surround system, using multi-capsule Calrec Soundfield microphones. Other labels, including Unicorn-Kanchana, also supported Ambisonic, releasing such rarities as a UHJ Ambisonic recording of the soundtrack to North By Northwest on LP. Playback decoders were available from the UK's National Research and Development Council (NRDC) and speaker manufacturer IMF.…
Convergence has come to the automotive market. Clarion Corporation of America announced December 4 that it has developed the the world's first product that integrates car audio, computing functions, navigation, and wireless communications through hands-free voice activation. The Clarion AutoPC is a DIN unit that fits in the dash of an automobile, and is powered by the Microsoft Windows CE operating system.
The new product will be available throughout the US at hundreds of authorized Clarion retailers in January 1999, but early editions of the AutoPC can be seen at several locations in…
E-wisdom holds that one of the big advantages about retailing on the Internet is that, once a comany is online, the entire world of consumers is only a few mouse clicks away. This concept holds up much better in theory than in practice. Language barriers, shipping costs, and import/export red tape (such as agreements controlling which countries a retailer can even sell a product line to) have all made the reality less than ideal for e-merchants.
To solve the global sales problem, Hifi.com has decided to create websites specific to each country it sells to, and last week announced the…
Here's one you don't see every day: competing press releases over a store dropping a product line—or vice versa.
First, Tweeter Home Entertainment Group, Inc. announced that it was dropping Monster Cable products and was replacing them with four new vendors offering greater "quality, value, profitability, margin, and customer satisfaction."
Not true, said Monster in a June 26 press release. According to it, "In recent months Monster had become increasingly concerned over Tweeter's financial condition, and the exposure of its four million dollar credit line. After doing an in-depth…
It's no secret that audio publications around the world have been shrinking or disappearing of late. John Atkinson writes in his September 1999 "As We See It" that although the trend has certainly affected Stereophile's girth, steps have been taken to fatten the audiophile content of every issue. Read his analysis of the situation in "Closer Together Covers?"
Two articles this week focus on loudspeaker manufacturer M&K. The first, "Audio Odyssey: Ken Kreisel of M&K," is an interview conducted by Wes Phillips in the spring of 1997. Next we present WP's review of M&K's S-150…
Robert Deutsch asks, "How can you tell an audiophile from a normal person?" RD's answer involves the name of the Vienna Acoustics Mahler loudspeaker, which Deutsch reviewed for the April 2000 issue of Stereophile. Deutsch writes, "I find Gustav Mahler's music to be on the ponderous side, but when I heard the Vienna Acoustics Mahlers at HI-FI '99, I was sufficiently impressed that I began the process of getting a pair for review." The results of his careful listening are not ponderous at all.
ProAc's speakers have consistently found favor with Stereophile's writers, prompting Wes Phillips…
It would be easy to blame the popularity of home computers for a recent slowdown in audio component sales, except for the fact that PCs are having a tough season themselves. Maybe all of those audio dollars are being spent to cover losses in the stock market or to buy new PlayStation 2s. Regardless, sales of audio products suffered a bit of a slump this past October compared to last year.
According to the latest statistics released by the Consumer Electronics Association, sales to dealers of separate audio components dipped 10% in the month of October compared to the same month in 1999.…
The Home Entertainment Show highlights the best of the best in home entertainment. With over 250 exhibitors, 80 demonstration rooms, an exciting live music program, and in-depth seminars, it is the largest and most comprehensive event of its kind! Learn the latest about HDTV, SACD, DVD-Audio, DVD, surround sound, two-channel audio, and more. Click here for a list of exhibitors.
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Enter to win a deluxe home-theater system valued at over $15,000! The Home Entertainment Show and Primedia invite you to enter to win this fabulous home-theater system package while at the show. Be…