Nonesuch began work on the album just a few days after Katrina struck. The brainstorm of Nonesuch president Robert Hurwitz, Our New Orleans 2005 consists solely of new tracks recorded in…
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On August 29, Nonesuch Records gave its first donation of $1 million to Habitat for Humanity International. The funds, raised in only eight months through sales of 150,000 copies of Nonesuch's superb benefit album Our New Orleans 2005, will be used to build homes for displaced musicians and others in the New Orleans Habitat Musicians' Village, whose centerpiece will be the Ellis Marsalis Center for Music.
Amina Tech Plaster-In-Walls: Amina Technologies Ltd. of Huntingdon, England is introducing its Plaster-In-Wall speakers to the American market. The Plaster-In-Walls employ NXT-patented high-power flat diaphragms to create "undetectable in-wall or in-ceiling speakers." NXT technology is said to offer improved dispersion characteristics over conventional speakers, making location and listening position far more flexible, according to Amina.
Amina Plaster-In-Wall speakers incorporate a specialized strong, lightweight composite material that "vibrates in the same way as natural musical…
On Saturday, September 30 and Sunday, October 1, over 50 exhibitors and 200 brands will be on display at the Brussels Sheraton Hotel (Rogier Place, 3—1210 Brussels) between 10am and 7pm. Register in advance and have your pre-printed badge waiting for you—plus, you'll be eligible for door prizes.
Participants include: Acoustic Arts, Actinote, Acustica Applicata, Advance Acoustic, Agile, Aldenkamp, Alesco, ALR-Jordan, ALR-Jordan Gold CDs, Amazon, AMC, Amphion, André Charlin, Anthony Gallo Acoustics, Apertura, Apollo, Argon, Art Sound, Atohm, Atoll Electronique, Audience, Audio Analogue,…
Yes, we've reported on this before, but it bears repeating—especially if you didn't hear us because you were playing your iPod too loud: Prolonged exposure to loud music can damage your hearing.
The reason for this particular cautionary lecture? A recent article in Malaysia's New Straits Times, which quotes ENT specialist Dr. Kuljit Singh: "Constant use of earphones, especially from listening to iPods, can cause loss of hearing, especially among the young who use it for prolonged periods. . . . In five years, I will be seeing people who used maximum volumes just to listen to their music…
Naxos, possibly the world's largest classical music label, has taken a leap into the virtual universe of digital downloading. In an unprecedented collaboration—including Naxos of America, the country's largest independent distributor of classical music; eMusic, the world's second-largest digital music service; and bricks-and-mortar retailers such as Borders—Naxos has introduced MPkey, an exclusive series of downloadable classical music collections. Available for purchase only at bricks-and-mortar retailers (and exclusively at Borders stores through December 1), MPkey enables consumers to…
In a surprising move, the San Francisco Symphony has announced plans to release the next installment in its ongoing Mahler series, the beloved Symphony 5, in download format before issuing the recording on hybrid SACD/CD. The Fifth will first become available on iTunes on September 12, and in hard format three weeks later. Such an unprecedented release schedule, from one of the few symphony orchestras in the world to regularly record in the high-resolution SACD format, can be seen as part of a near-universal recognition among record labels of the importance of online sales.
"We're always…
Even though the calendar year starts January 1 (or, if you're in the electronics industry, with the January CES), many of us still think of Labor Day as the beginning of the year. That's when school always started—or, again if you're in the electronics industry, the week after is when CEDIA's (Custom Electronic Design & Installation Association) Expo takes place. As the show has grown over the years, it has also become the kick-off to the important (and, hopefully, lucrative) end-of-the-year sales season, with many companies debuting significant products they hope will make their Q4…
Peter Zylberberg of Audio Excellence in Yorkville, Toronto sends along the following warning:
"We have discovered an eBay scam that all audiophiles should be aware of. A customer of ours brought in a van den Hul Mainstream Hybrid power cord that he purchased from an eBay auction site reported to be based in LA. The cable is a very unusual pale grass green color and includes fake Wattgate-labeled plugs. The cable is very flexible, unlike the genuine article. The Canadian distributor for van den Hul has examined the cable, at our request, and pronounced it to be a fraud. The printing on the…
We all know the refrain. Classical music is losing its audience. With shorter attention spans, the ascent of the iPod, a penchant for music (and spoken word masquerading as music) in the background, and the submergence of audio by home theater, fewer and fewer people in the United States are being exposed to art music of the past and present.
The Metropolitan Opera is not giving up without a fight. Beginning on December 30, the Met will broadcast the first of six star-studded productions, live and in high definition, in movie theaters in the US, Europe, and Canada equipped with high-…
The Philadelphia Orchestra, one of America's prestigious "Big Five" orchestras, has established its own digital online music store to directly market its soundboard recordings of current Philadelphia Orchestra performances.
Other major American orchestras, such as the New York Philharmonic and Los Angeles Philharmonic, have also made performances available for download, but Philadelphia appears to be the first to do so without a distributor. Selling direct allows the PO to sell its MP3 downloads for less—$4.99, about one-third the price of a typical CD. Philadelphia's downloads have…