Blackmer's development of dbx expansion-compression technology in the early 1970s pushed the performance level of recording and playback systems beyond their previously accepted limits. Like his better-known colleague Ray Dolby, Blackmer found a unique way to work around the dynamic restrictions of analog tape. "His original RMS detector circuit, which was the foundation for dbx, was most…
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We were saddened to learn of the death of inventor and audio engineer David Blackmer. The founder of dbx and Earthworks Audio Products, Inc. died at his home in Wilton, NH on March 21. He was 75.
Although the CD was successfully released into the music industry gene pool 20 years ago, several companies are still tinkering with its DNA in order to assist record labels in restricting how consumers use their discs.
SunnComm has been working in the lab for the past few years to develop a way to prevent consumers from copying CDs while still retaining replay compatibility with most CD and DVD players. After several fits and starts, the company is reporting that its latest mutation, MediaMax CD-3, may be able to do the trick. Earlier this summer, SunnComm and BMG entered into an…
Perhaps even more than the typical living room, the automobile might be considered multichannel audio's natural environment.
DVD-Audio may be the natural carrier for mobile surround sound. The high-resolution format got a big boost in Detroit last week at the Digital Car Conference and Exhibition. Panasonic Automotive Electronics Company won plenty of industry praise with its DVD-A demonstration format at the trade show. "For the first time it sounds like what we're doing in the studio," said Elliot Scheiner, a recording engineer who has been collaborating with Panasonic on the design of…
DVD-Audio has kept a low profile since its misfired "launch" late last year (see previous story), but has popped up again at this week's Audio Engineering Society Convention (AES) in Paris. Pioneer is demonstrating its latest generation of universal DVD players, recently released in Japan, using a new DVD-Audio disc, some of the contents of which were encoded using Meridian Lossless Packing (MLP) technology to enable high-resolution surround sound.
Joining Pioneer at the convention is mastering software company Sonic Solutions, which is showing the results of its collaboration with Pioneer…
As we discovered earlier this year, Microsoft is trying to make friends with audiophiles. Need more proof? The software behemoth recently announced broad support for what it has termed the "Universal Audio Architecture" (UAA) initiative, which, the company claims, "will help to ensure an improved audio experience and improved audio device driver support for users of Windows."
At the same time, Microsoft also announced the availability of the first version of its "High Definition Audio Class Driver," based on the High Definition Audio specification developed by Intel (see previous). Through…
For months now, the music industry has concentrated all its legal firepower on Napster, the Silicon Valley–based software company that lets users share music; and against San Diego's MP3.com, which lets users upload their music to a central server and then access it from any Internet-connected computer. As of the end of June, it appears that MP3.com will likely be co-opted by the industry's Big Five until it is no longer a threat—two of the major labels have already settled with the startup—but Napster will fight on.
Napster has argued that it is an Internet search engine and is therefore…
Remember when you weren't too busy to make your own cassette tapes to play in the car? How you could link one song to the next by genre or theme or beat or musical key? Remember how much more satisfying it was to listen to those tapes than it was to listen to the radio? No commercials, no announcers, no filler---and you liked every tune.
The need for personalized music has survived into the digital age, but apparently the time for compiling it hasn't. Several companies are now in the business of making custom CDs. The latest to enter this growing market is MyCD, which debuted May 1.
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Treading the fine line between authorized retailers and the used equipment market, New Jersey online retailer WorldExchange.com announced last week that it has launched a consumer electronics shopping Web site that offers "deep discounts" on a broad array of mid to high-end audio/video components whose manufacturers, the company says, normally adhere to "restricted distribution and price-maintenance policies."
WorldExchange.com sells new merchandise, but its "Certified Mint" program is what will likely catch the eyes and ears of audiophiles. The company says that, under the Certified Mint…
The music industry's in a deep slump, but you won't know it by the glitz, glamour, and hype surrounding the 44th Grammy Awards.
Scheduled for the Staples Center in downtown Los Angeles on Wednesday, February 27, the annual orgy of self-congratulation will wear a happy face to hide the music industry's pervasive pessimism over one of its longest and most profound sales slumps. CD sales are off substantially for the second year in a row, and there are few emerging superstars or new genres to reinvigorate the business. Although it's still going strong, rap is now well over 20 years old.
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Last week, the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) announced that it is working to establish a single standard for high-data-rate home networking using the powerlines already installed in consumers' homes. Stating that it is "recognizing the need for a baseline technology standard," the CEA says it has invited integrated-home-systems industry stakeholders to participate in the creation of a standard for residential powerline networks, to be completed by year's end.
According to the CEA, a formal evaluation process is already underway, with the organization's Data Networking Subcommittee…