search
Reference Recordings, the Bay Area-based audiophile label founded by John T. "Tam" Henderson in 1976, has adopted a unique approach to computer and music server playback. Later this month, the company will begin to market what they call "HRx" discs. Incompatible with conventional optical disc players, these are data discs containing WAV files intended for playback on computer-based music servers. Each HRx is a digit-for-digit copy of an original Reference Recordings 24-bit/176.4kHz digital master. The format is slated for audition during this week's CES. It can be heard in the TAD, FIM, and…
On January 4, BusinessWeek.com reported that Sony BMG Music Entertainment was dropping digital rights management (DRM) from "at least part of its collection." Sony BMG thus becomes the last of the big four music labels to do so—following Warner Music Group's example by less than a week. EMI and Universal Music Group began the stampede earlier in the year, pioneering DRM-free downloads with Amazon.com, among other partners.
We reported previously that both Pepsi and Wal-Mart have been rumored to have pressured the record labels to ditch DRM if they wanted to be included in Wal-Mart's…
The shoes are now dropping all over the place. We have previously reported that Warner Music Group had dropped DRM on its downloads, joining Amazon.com's Download store. Ten days ago, we also reported that Sony BMG had announced it was dropping DRM, although it declined to release any distribution details at the time.
Industry analysts speculated that the companies had been pressured by mega-mart retailer Wal-Mart and Pepsi to drop DRM—in Pepsi's case because it was going to give away 1 billion downloads in a promotion tied to the SuperBowl on February 4. The last time Pepsi tried a…
A few days ago, Stereophile reader Bill Taylor wrote, "I was just strolling down memory lane and took a look at the Adcom website...they just merged with Emerson."
We checked for ourselves and, sure enough, Adcom's home page directed us to a press release, announcing that, "Pursuant to the agreement in principle, Emerson would contribute cash to the new company in exchange for a controlling interest in the new company, and ADCOM would sell and/or license certain of its assets, including, all of its intellectual property, to the new company in exchange for cash and a non-controlling…
Stereophile gets press releases every day. Some days, they are for products that strike us as really great ideas, sometimes they make us go huh? And sometimes we think both.
Alberto Frias' $16,000 Transport "perceptual pod" struck us as a definite "both."
The Transport is a hand-made composite fiber-glass pod containing a waterbed, LED lighting system, and a stereo system featuring speakers by Anthony Gallo. The inside is matte white, the outside is a shiny iPod-friendly white gloss.
Frias obviously intends it to be an iPod accessory, to which we responded, "Eh."…
Physical sales of music plummeted at a rate that exceeded the sales growth of legal downloads in 2007, according to the IFPI. While global digital sales grew by 40% in 2007—representing about 10% of all music sold—IFPI figures suggest that CD sales in the US dropped by 19% (10.5% in the UK).
The IFPI also made sweeping claims about illegal downloading, claiming that in 2007, illegal downloads outnumbered legal ones by a ratio of 20:1. Ever wonder where the IFPI, RIAA, and MPAA get their statistics on illegal downloads?
Sometimes they just guess, said the Associated Press this week…
The Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) announced that it will launch "a new consumer technology event," Digital Downtown (D2), 'to showcase the latest electronic lifestyle and workstyle products to residents and employees of Mahattan's Financial District." D2, which will be held from June 12–14 at the Winter Garden of the World Financial Center, will be open to the public, unlike the annual Consumer Electronics Show (CES).
The CEA's Ryan Strowger said that it was too early to name the participants in the event, since it was only announced last week, but Digital Downtown's website…
Audio Research, one of the companies that created the Silver Age of American high-end audio 38 years ago, was acquired by Italian private equity firm Quadrivio SGR on January 25. Quadrivio, which acquired Sonus Faber in 2007, intends to keep Audio Research's current management team in place.
Audio Research founder and President William Z. Johnson will continue with the firm as honorary chairman, but will step aside from day-to-day operations. Terry Dorn will be President, Gerald Oxborough will become CFO, Ralph Fetter will continue as managing director of manufacturing, David Gordon will…
When last we heard business news from NHT, it had been acquired by Vinci Labs in 2006. Today, NHT managing director Chris Byrne told Stereophile, "We are sitting down right now and signing the papers to purchase NHT, Inc. from Vinci Labs, creating NHT Audio, LLC."
What exactly does that mean? Byrne explained, "Vinci Labs was, in many ways, a good fit for us, but at heart Vinci is a venture capital company, and high-end audio is just a really different kind of market.
"Vinci purchased Crocs when it was a $10 million company and grew it rapidly into a $200 million one. Venture…
Longtime Stereophile reader (and EFF senior staff attorney) Fred von Lohmann sent us a message pointing us to rumors that iPod Classics running v1.1 firmware were outputting DC through both their dock connection and headphone jack. He included a link to iLounge.com, which bills itself as "an independent provider of information about Apple Computer Inc.'s iPod and iPhone digital media players, accessories, and related software."
The iLounge.com article cited a discovery by headfi.com correspondent "Nine" that he had measured 500mV of DC coming out of the analog outputs when the iPod was…