Don't count out physical media entirely, Levy admonished listeners. "You're not going to offer your mother-in-law iTunes downloads for Christmas, but we have to be much more innovative in the way we sell physical content. . . . By the beginning of next year, none of our content will come without…
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On October 27, MarketWatch reported that EMI Music's chairman and CEO, Alain Levy, told an audience, "The CD as it is right now is dead." Speaking at the London Business School, Levy said that 60% of consumers rip CDs into their home computers in order to listen to them on digital music players.
Free, as in "no charge": RealTraps reports that it has upgraded ModeCalc, a graphical room-mode prediction software that it offers as a free download (Windows only, 1.3MB) to help people design new listening rooms, or assess the low-frequency response in existing rooms. The company says the new version of ModeCalc offers "several clever features, including a display that better identifies modes that are too close together, and a revised and expanded tutorial in the included Help system."
RealTraps also offers a Windows version of its Frequency-Distance Calculator, which, it claims, "lets…
Kalman Rubinson enthused over JL Audio's Fathom f113 powered subwoofer in his November "Music in the Round" column. Unfortunately, brainfade on my part when I wrote the text for the cover of that issue of Stereophile meant that the subwoofer was credited to "JL Labs." And in all the proof-reading that goes on while an issue of the magazine is being prepared, we all noted a) that the words "JL Labs" were both spelled correctly on the cover and b) that the words "JL Audio" were also spelled correctly on the contents page and all the way through Kals's column.
Not one of us, however,…
On Ella Fitzgerald and Oscar Peterson's Swiss Radio Days, Vol.15: JATP Lausanne 1953 (TCB 02152), the performances are so extraordinary that only the music itself can fully tell the tale.
This latest release in the Swiss Radio Days series from TCB: The Montreux Jazz Label, reveals Fitzgerald and Peterson in their youthful primes. That they even performed together was something of a miracle. Fitzgerald, who in this period usually traveled with her own trio, was in no financial position to engage the famed Peterson to accompany her on piano. Leave it jazz impresario Norman Granz to pair the…
One cliché that never loses its aptness is "end of an era." And it certainly applies to the passing on October 29 of SME’s founder, Alastair Robertson-Aikman. While there remain a handful of survivors from the original "golden age" of audio, few of them were still active in 2006. AR-A, as he was known to friends and staff, wasn’t simply still active: he was still tweaking his sound system and planning new products.
His achievements span nearly the last half-century, his seminal Model 3009 tonearm first making its appearance in 1959. It would stay in production into the 21st century,…
As we reported previously, on Saturday, November 11, retailer Advanced Audio will celebrate its 20th anniversary with "an open format seminar" at the Sheraton Tacoma Hotel (1320 Broadway Plaza, Tacoma, WA 98402. Tel: (253) 572-3200). Seminar participants will include Richard Vandersteen of Vandersteen Audio; Steve Silberman, Ayre Acoustics's national sales manager; Joe Harley, renowned recording producer and AudioQuest vice-president; Shane Buettner, technical editor of Ultimate AV; and Wes Phillips, a senior editor at Stereophile.
While the event is free, the Sheraton charges for parking…
On Friday, November 3, The Register published an interview with Peter Jenner, formerly manager of Pink Floyd and Syd Barrett, T. Rex, The Clash, Ian Drury, and Disposable Heroes, as well as Billy Bragg's current manager. The interview was a challenging (and profane) music insider's rant on a variety of subjects ranging from how the dollar download model killed the record store to proposals for a blanket, DRM-free digital music license that would permit consumers to use the music they purchase however they wish.
It's a good read and I encourage you to click on the link and peruse it.
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One of the best-sounding recordings I've heard in the last few years is Handel's Messiah performed by Jeffrey Thomas and the American Bach Soloists (Delos DE-3360 CD). The sound is spectacularly natural, with realistic dynamics and a wonderful sense of space. If you haven't heard it, I recommend it highly—but Millennia Music & Media Systems is now offering you a chance to experience the recording on a completely different level.
Initiating an ongoing series of discussions on the complexities of orchestral recording, it has posted a tutorial that offers comparisons of seven microphone…
On November 7, Dr. Mead C. Killion, founder and president of Etymotic Research, invited Stereophile to experience the company's newest in-the-ear high-fidelity earphone, the ety-8. What was so special about these half-ounce 'phones? No wires—the ety-8's are the industry's first and only in-the-ear, high-accuracy, noise-exclusion earphones.
The ety-8s employ a new, low-power, full-bandwidth Broadcom BCM-2037 chipset, which, Killion said, "represents a major advance in Bluetooth technology." Its small size and low current drain enabled Etymotic to shrink the size of the stereo…
MusicGiants, which bills itself as "the leader in HD music downloads," announced November 7 an agreement with Inteset, which manufacturers high-end media servers and advanced extender systems.
Jeff Lloyd, Inteset's CEO, said, "Working with MusicGiants is a good match for Inteset. Our dealers will appreciate the opportunity to provide this convenience to their customers."
What convenience? you may be asking. In an exclusive interview with Stereophile, Scott Bahneman, MusicGiants' CEO, explained: "What we've done with Inteset and our other partners is provide them a way to put our…