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Last week, GlobalNet Systems announced that violinist Itzhak Perlman has joined its subsidiary On-Line Entertainment Network as consultant and advisory boardmember. The company says that Mr. Perlman will consult on its acquisition and production of live classical-music events and the licensing of master catalogs of recorded classical music. He also joins an advisory board that will advise on future trends and opportunities for the company. The company intends to add other major artists to its advisory board in coming months.
Record 10 CDs worth of music in one weekend? John Atkinson writes: "I blanched. This was an enormous task: 32 sonatas; 103 individual movements; more than 11 hours of music—11 hours, 26 minutes, and 25 seconds, as it turned out." How to record Canadian pianist Robert Silverman performing Ludwig van Beethoven's 32 Piano Sonatas in such a short time? JA explains the revolutionary process in detail.
What? Yet another digital audio PC/Mac soundcard review in the pages of Stereophile!! In his review of the RME Digi96/8 Pro computer soundcard, JA finds that this is not just any 24/96 soundcard…
For "Fine Tunes" #16, Jonathan Scull offers sage advice on handling the often ephemeral problem of microphonics in audio systems. "So here I am expounding on the tendency of audio components—especially tubes, capacitors, and resistors—to become microphonic, and you're wondering how you can find out if there's any of that shakin' goin' on in your system. And you want to do it easily and for next to nothing," he sez. The solutions await.
For 26 years, the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival has brought more than 50 internationally renowned musicians to Santa Fe for six weeks in July and August…
First Annual P2P Litigation Summit:: On November 3, the Northwestern University School of Law will host the one-day First Annual P2P Litigation Summit, sponsored by Privacy Resolutions, P.C. and Electronic Frontier Foundation.
The summit will bring together public and private defense attorneys, clients, investigators, advocates, and academics to share their insights into "the latest developments in peer-to-peer litigation through panel discussions and presentations." Speakers will address issues including how the RIAA and MPAA go about identifying plaintiffs; the most effective legal…
The consumer-electronics industry is riding the wave of a still-booming economy, according to most mid-year reports. Although the generally rosy picture is marred by a few glitches, both equipment makers and retailers say that sales continue to soar.
Major manufacturers have posted some big gains. Matsushita's first-quarter operating profits are up 48% over the same period a year before, due to efforts to reduce costs. Sales for the Matsushita group of companies rose 1% overall, to $16.72 billion, divided almost equally between domestic (Japanese) sales and overseas sales. Matsushita's…
At last week's International Solid-State Circuits Conference, IBM, Toshiba, and Sony unveiled details of their new Cell processor chip—a device that The New York Times proclaimed would create "a new digital computing ecosystem that includes Hollywood, the living room and high-performance scientific and engineering markets."
IBM's Dac Pham said, "We believe a 10x performance over the PC, at the same power envelope, can be achieved. It will usher in a new era of media-centered computing." What's all the hubbub about, bub? A 90-nanometer 3.6GHz Pentium 4 occupies 112 square millimeters and…
Will the decline ever end for the music business?
On April 7, the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) reported that sales of recorded music dropped 7.6% in 2003. Unit sales are off a cumulative 20% over the past three years, the London-based trade association reported. Worldwide sales of CD albums, which account for 86% of all recorded music, dropped 9.1%; CD singles dropped 18.7%. IFPI chairman and CEO Jay Berman described 2003 as "another difficult year" for the music industry, and blamed the slump on "the combined effects of digital and physical piracy and…
The past several months haven't been kind to the electronics industry. Most manufacturers are suffering from slow sales and backlogged inventory. But one company is painting a slightly different, if confusing, picture. Unless you've drastically slashed margins while quadrupling sales volume, the phrase "record quarterly sales but decreased profits" appears self-contradictory. Yet Sony Corporation is claiming exactly that for the last quarter of 2001, the company's third fiscal quarter. (Most electronics manufacturers begin new fiscal years April 1.) On Friday, January 25, Sony announced…
We recently received the following from Christos Skaloumbakas, President of the Audiophile Club of Athens, Greece. The ACA website is easy to navigate, with pictures and descriptions of members' systems---including listening rooms' floor construction and furnishings. Except for a few letters and opinion pieces, text is in clearly written English. The club is completely noncommercial, has no position regarding any of the usual audiophile controversies, and encourages open discussion. A love of music and a desire to share it are the only requirements for membership.---BW
The Audiophile…
Removal of Hazardous Substances (RoHS), a directive by the European Union (EU) that goes into effect on July 1, 2006, sounds like apple pie or motherhood—something that would be hard to argue against. And its expressed purpose of removing hazardous substances—lead and mercury, for example—from consumer products is assuredly a noble one.
Yet, mention RoHS to a specialty audio manufacturer and the air just might turn blue with intemperate language. "Do you know any way to visually examine for a cold solder joint if you're not using lead solder?" I heard one high-end manufacturer ask another…