Registration for the 2006 trade show's conferences, scheduled for January 5–8, is…
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As big a shock as it was to see the Halloween candy and decorations in the stores by mid-September, the real sign that the year is drawing to an end has been the flurry of news concerning the 2006 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas. This year, CES guarantees that it will refund the registration price of anyone who attends "any of the 2006 International CES conference sessions and fail[s] to gain even one new insight, tip, or piece of information you can use when returning to your place of business."
For the entertainment industry, every perceived threat produces an overblown reaction. After a protracted and very public struggle, file-sharing upstart Napster was cowed into submission; MP3.com's "personal music library" was rendered ineffective through a combination of legal pressure and co-option; other Internet music experiments are threatened with lawsuits too costly to contest.
Sparing no expense in its struggle to maintain control of distribution, the industry's strategy is first to squash the competition---either by suing them out of business, buying them out, or withholding…
Johnny Ramone: 19548–2004: Rock fans were saddened by the September 16 death of guitarist Johnny Ramone, founding member of pioneering punk rock band The Ramones. Surrounded by friends and family, he passed away at his Los Angeles home after losing a five-year struggle with prostate cancer. His death came just a few days after a concert held to celebrate the band's 30th anniversary and to raise funds for cancer research.
Born John Cummings, Ramone was the second member of the group to succumb to cancer; Joey Ramone (Jeff Hyman) died in 2001 of lymphatic cancer. Bassist Dee Dee Ramone (…
The age of downloadable digital music is showing signs of maturing. Territory that was explored by hobbyists, pirates, and startup companies eager to stake their claims will soon yield to the irresistible force of multinational conglomerates.
On April 6, BMG Entertainment announced a sweeping plan to offer its enormous catalog of artists and performers over the Internet this summer "through an open network of retail partners." Bertelsmann Music Group, with more than 200 record labels under its umbrella, including RCA, Windham Hill, and Arista, has long operated one of the biggest and most…
Breaking news at the 2001 CEDIA Expo, held this past weekend in Indianapolis, IN, was that Harry Pearson, founder and editor of bimonthly high-end audio magazine The Absolute Sound, has apparently been moved to one side. According to TAS publisher Mark Fisher, with whom I spoke briefly Sunday morning on the Show floor, the day-to-day editing of the magazine will become the responsibility of erstwhile Stereophile consulting technical editor Robert Harley.
Harley is already editor of Absolute Multimedia's home-theater title The Perfect Vision, which is also published bimonthly, alternating…
The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) has requested increased federal funding for the ongoing struggle against the pirating of recorded music. On Tuesday, April 23, the organization's executives asked the US House of Representatives' Appropriations Committee for more money to pursue pirates. Such allocations come directly from tax revenues, according to reports from Washington.
Speaking to the committee's budget panel, Frank Creighton, an RIAA executive vice president and director of the organization's anti-piracy campaign, testified that although the music industry has…
From the August 2001 issue, we have Michael Fremer's illuminating review of the Audio Physic Avanti III loudspeaker. Fremer wonders how Audio Physic can top the outstanding price/performance success of its middle-of-the line Virgo model with a speaker that costs twice as much. As Fremer asks, "Is the Avanti twice as good as the Virgo? More than twice as good? Or is it just another competent but undistinguished design?"
While, in theory, a tonearm should not contribute any "sound" of its own, John Atkinson explains how just the opposite can be the case in his review of the Linn Ekos…
From Music Technologies, Inc. comes the announcement that the Virtuoso Violin, the world's first computer-controlled violin, debuted last week in Menlo Park, California.
This acoustic instrument produces sound by moving a bow across a violin, just as a traditional instrument does, but human hands never touch bow or instrument; instead, both are controlled completely by a built-in microcontroller circuit.
The unique, patented technology of the Virtuoso Violin makes it a complement to QRS's Pianomation system, a computer-controlled "self-playing" piano featured at Hollywood's Magic…
Last week, Philips Semiconductors announced the CD10 chipset, which the company describes as the world's first two-chip solution to deliver CD-RW (compact disc, re-writeable) compatibility for CD audio players. According to Philips, one chip provides a data amplifier and laser supply circuit, while the other is the digital servo, decoder, and DAC. As a result, Philips claims that the new chipset allows designers to build audio players that can read all forms of CDs without an increase in component count.
Philips' Charles Limonard explains that "many CD players cannot play discs recorded…
Electronics retailers typically depend on the winter holiday shopping season to boost their year-end bottom lines. The hoped-for buying surge apparently hasn't happened in 2002, since Best Buy and Circuit City are both projecting slow sales.
North America's #1 and #2 electronics chains, respectively, both companies have seen profits hampered by competition from discounters. A December 18 report from Bloomberg News noted that both companies have slashed prices on upscale products and have begun offering free financing to compete with discounters such as Target and Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.,…