Felten, the encryption expert who, with a group of colleagues, successfully met a challenge put forth last year by the Secure Digital Music Initiative (SDMI), filed suit June 6 in a US federal court in New Jersey, seeking the right to present a paper detailing his group's methodology and results at the USENIX Security Symposium in Washington, DC, to be held…
search
Which has more value in the 21st century: the constitutionally-guaranteed right to free speech or the music industry's right to protect its encryption technology? Princeton University professor Edward W. Felten intends to find out.
More European music lovers will soon be able to enjoy the offerings of Music Choice, a leading provider of audio and data services. Zug, Switzerland-based The Fantastic Corporation announced an agreement October 28 with Music Choice that will expand the musical options for computer-equipped music fans in Great Britain, Italy, Germany, Switzerland, and other countries.
Music Choice Europe is a digital audio service operated as a joint venture by Sony, Warner, EMI, AEI Music, BskyB, and General Instrument. The service offers as many as 50 genre-specific channels of commercial-free music…
As Robert J. Reina writes, "I have a passion for great speaker designs at affordable prices, and with modern driver, crossover, and cabinet technologies making innovative strides, many serious high-end speaker designers are turning their attention to coming up with the next great budget speaker." At $649/pair, is the PSB Image 4T loudspeaker it? Reina divulges the results of his aural examination.
Chip Stern is concerned that the upgrade path can sometimes be made steeper by components that combine multiple functions in a single chassis. But in his review of the VTL IT-85 integrated…
SACD partisans Sony and Philips continue to release new disc players that also decode DVD-Video, but not DVD-Audio. And arch-DVD-A supporter Meridian, as well as companies such as McIntosh, are releasing DVD-A and DVD-V players that don't do SACD. But there are exceptions, notably Pioneer, who debuted the first widely available "universal" player, the DV-AX10 SACD/DVD-A/CD player, last year.
Proving once again that it's a music-lover, not a fighter, Pioneer formally announced its latest generation of universal machines, first promised at the 2002 CES this past January. Revealed to the…
The next generation of streaming media technology was unveiled last week at RealNetworks' Conference '98 in Burlingame, California. The star of the show? "Bandwidth-friendly" RealPlayer G2, which promises to make noisy audio and glitchy video a part of the Web's past.
Built upon synchronized multimedia streaming language, and demonstrated by RealNetworks CEO Mark Glaser, the new technology is claimed to offer "crystal clear" audio and video that is quality-scalable depending on users' modem speeds. It will also allow the simultaneous transmission of text, graphics, movies, or images as a…
Since March, Sony BMG has released "at least 10 commercial titles" employing XCP2 technology developed by UK-based antipiracy company first4Internet. Sony BMG claims that the 10 titles represent "over one million units," but the company steadfastly refuses to specify which titles have XCP2.
The technology allows consumers to copy the CDs—or at least, it permits them to make a limited number of copies (three, in fact)—however, copies cannot be made of those copies. First4Internet's website describes it thus: "Its methodology is an encapsulation process that wraps around the audio content…
Manufacturers sometimes suspect that they have been intentionally slighted if they don't get mentioned in a Stereophile show report. The truth is that the overwhelming enormity of the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) prevents even the most aggressive journalists from seeing everything. (SGHT editor Tom Norton may be the sole exception.)
This year, Wes Phillips and Jon Iverson dutifully trod many miles of Las Vegas concrete, but were able to capture only part of the show. In fairness to all exhibitors, they decided to write up only those demos they actually attended. This policy serves…
There are a variety of ways to empty a large bucket of water: The entire contents can be quickly dumped in a dramatic rush, or a small hole can be punched in the bottom, allowing a smaller but continual flow over an extended period of time. Digital data can be seen as the water in the DVD "bucket," with 24/192 multi-channel sound being the equivalent of a big audio splash.
Composer Robert Rich has decided to use the 4.7GBytes of storage allowed by the DVD format to create the equivalent of a steady seven-hour audio flow, instead. Possibly the longest continuous musical composition ever…
On March 10, Tymphany Corporation and Danish Sound Technology (DST) announced a merger of the two companies, funded by Vantage Point Venture Partners. The combined company, to be called Tymphany Corporation, will have its headquarters in Cupertino, CA.
Tymphany is best known for its invention of the Linear Array Transducer (LAT), a design that, according to the company's literature, "enables higher quality sound in space sensitive products." The LAT, described as a "balanced drive design," consists of a series of coupled diaphragms driven by motors housed in the end assemblies of the…
One of the hot items audiophiles were able to score at last month's 2005 CES was a hybrid SACD that Ray Kimber was handing out. Labelled IsoMike Tests 2005A, the disc is beautifully packaged and sports dozens of recorded snippets of vocal music, string quartet, piano, marching band, orchestra, blank pistol, and a local janitor.
Recorded with Kimber's home-grown IsoMike technique, employing a specially made heart-shaped baffle and microphone array, the piano excerpts are from an upcoming John Atkinson/Stereophile/Robert Silverman release, and the instrumental ensembles offer a variety of…