The new bill was introduced just a few weeks after Hollings and a Senate subcommittee had grilled top executives from the…
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If Senator "Fritz" Hollings has his way, coming generations of electronic products will monitor their users' behavior and report possible copyright violations to some governmental regulatory agency. That's one of the more ominous provisions in Hollings' Consumer Broadband and Digital Television Promotion Act (CBDTPA), introduced for consideration by the US Senate the third week of March. The bill goes far beyond the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, passed in 1998.
Igor Kipnis, virtuosic harpsichordist, prolific critic, and esteemed teacher died January 23. He was 71. According to his managing agency, Marilyn Gilbert Artists Management of Toronto, he had been suffering from cancer.
Kipnis, the son of Metropolitan Opera bass Alexander Kipnis, was born on September 27, 1930 in Berlin, where his father was singing with the Berlin State Opera. Although Jewish, the elder Kipnis was popular in Germany during Nazism's rise to prominence. Employing the stratagem of a vocal injury, the elder Kipnis fled Germany for Austria. When the Nazis annexed that…
The internet has been a boon to music lovers, who now can research almost any piece of music or artist, or shop for obscure discs and memorabilia from a plethora of sources. In an interesting twist on the additional material idea, Sony Music has been making supplemental content for selected CD releases available on a special website.
Called ConnecteD, the software residing on the Sony website allows content to be developed for any release, old or new, at any time. The content can be easily updated, since it resides on the Sony web server as opposed to the CD master. Even older titles can…
Manley Laboratories, Inc. has appointed Albert Schippits as its hi-fi division's national sales manager. While Manley Labs has maintained a presence in the consumer high-end market since its 1988 launch, the company's energies have often seemed more focused on its successful line of professional studio equipment, such as its tube preamps, compressor/limiters, and equalizers.
Appointing Schippits to his new position sends a strong signal that Manley intends to grow its presence in the consumer market as well. Schippits has 28 years experience in retail sales, having begun in the custom…
Brian Damkroger has a wonderful moment or two as he auditions the VAC Renaissance Signature Mk.II preamplifier. As BD explains, the right musical situation can trigger those long-lost memories . . . .
"I love the sound of glowing glass, especially when I'm lonely," notes Wes Phillips as he cuddles up with the VAC PA80/80 power amplifier. "But I'm not kinky about it," asserts WP. "My real reason for loving tubed gear is that I love to wallow in that sense of emotional immediacy that hot glass seems singularly capable of presenting."
In Kevin Hayes: Knowledge from the Glass Age,…
Chet Atkins, the good-natured guitarist and successful record producer who established Nashville as the capitol of country music, in the process of transforming the music itself, died on Saturday, June 30. He had battled cancer for several years. He was 77.
While Mr. Atkins was a virtuosic guitarist and sold over 75 million records, it was his work as session musician, label executive, and pater familias to several generations of country musicians and pop stars that literally transformed the music and listening habits of the nation itself.
Chester Burton Atkins was born June 24,…
The first part of our subwoofer review trilogy finds Larry Greenhill plumbing the depths with the Paradigm Reference Servo-15 powered subwoofer. Greenhill says that the wide range of adjustments available on the Servo-15 can help it blend into most environments—but having all that choice can cut both ways, notes LG.
Next, Wes Phillips looks for big bottom with the REL Studio II powered subwoofer, and files his report for the July 1998 Stereophile. "At the same time that home theater has made 'subwoofer' a household word, many high-end companies have also discovered that a deep, tuneful…
Music lover Dennis Cassidy had an itch years ago to start an audiophile label dedicated to releasing the particular kinds of music he liked with the best vinyl and packaging available. Cassidy was involved with music distributor Sound Advice at the time, which sold the standard audiophile favorites from Mobile Fidelity Sound Labs, and others.
But he says he was never satisfied with the musical choices the audiophile labels made. As Cassidy puts it, "I'm picky about my audiophile LPs. It really all started with me in high school telling people, 'listen to this' or 'buy this LP' and their…
Pauline Oliveros calls it "deep listening"—a way to pay attention to the sensual qualities of sound itself. Welcome to a world of music that defies categorization, that invites a listener to soak slowly into a deep and otherworldly zone. This music goes by many names: ambient, spacemusic, electronica, sacred music, tribal/trance. Alas, you'll often find it hiding in the New Age section. Unlike some fluffier New Age fare, good ambient albums can explore the deeper, more solitary spaces. At its best, ambient music can sensitize you to sound in unique ways. It can enlarge your listening…
Imerge merged: Linear, LLC (Carlsbad, CA, USA) has acquired Imerge, Ltd. (Cambridge, UK), one of Europe's top providers of Internet-connected, hard disk-based audio products and media appliances. (Imerge's relational XiVA-Link database software is used in such products as the Linn Kivor media server.) Linear is best known for its engineered radio-frequency (RF) products and as a major supplier of wireless residential security systems, intercoms, garage door operators, gate operators, short- and long-range radio remote controls, and medical/emergency reporting systems. In recent years the…