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…
search
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.
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…
Telarc, Classic Records, AIX, Cisco Music, Elusive Disc, Reference Recordings, and M•A Recordings have all pulled out of CES 2007, citing new restrictions on sales of merchandise that they feel to be unacceptable. Chesky remains undecided. Music Direct, May Audio, and Acoustic Sounds will exhibit, but will not sell product. Only 5.1 Marketing and Sales is currently committed to selling music.
Reasons given for the pullout vary from label to label. One spokesperson for several companies initially opined, "Music is now [considered] 'software' and not welcome in the Consumer Electronics…
After a series of unforeseen delays, for which we apologize, the CD of Robert Silverman's performance of Beethoven's monumental work for solo piano, the Diabelli Variations (Variations, STPH017-2), is available for purchase from our e-commerce page today, Monday, October 2.
Variations, which couples the Diabelli Variations with Beethoven's little-performed 32 Variations in C-Minor, is the first recording for which I dispensed with tape altogether. Instead, I recorded the output of Ray Kimber's IsoMike microphone array straight to hard disk, with a sample rate of 88.2kHz and 24-bit…
On September 26, Sirius Satellite Radio announced the availability of the $350 Stiletto 100, "the company's first live portable radio, featuring WIFI, Yahoo music purchasing software, and the ability to save music subscribers love for playback later."
The 4.7" by 2" by 1" Stiletto can store up to 100 hours of "live Sirius Satellite Radio programming," albeit in segments of programming lasting no longer than six hours. Users can also save up to 10 hours of favorite songs they designate with the "love" button. The Stiletto 100 can connect to Sirius' Internet radio services via WiFi. It also…