On Thursday, November 4, XM Satellite Radio reported a third-quarter loss of $118 million—less than analysts had predicted, and a better performance than the $133 million lost in the same period in 2003. Quarterly revenue was $65.4 million, aided by the addition of more than 415,000 new subscribers. The revenue total was more than twice the $27 million posted a year earlier. XM's subscriber base is now above 2.5 million and should reach 3…
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Satellite radio continues to surge in popularity, but competitors XM and Sirius both posted losses for the third fiscal quarter, ended September 30.
Is it merely the tip of the iceberg, or a temporary diversion? Hard to say just yet, but a recent report from the Consumer Electronics Manufacturers Association (CEMA) suggests that increasing numbers of folks are using their PCs in place of, or in addition to, regular audio systems.
According to the annual Multimedia PC survey released last week, "faster access to the Internet and greater technological awareness have spurred today's multimedia PC owners to use their computers increasingly for entertainment purposes."
"We were able to use a December 1996 survey as a historical…
It's bad enough that the consumer electronics giants and small fry compete with each other. Increasingly, they are finding they must defend themselves against an onslaught from the personal computer industry which is eating away at the market share of traditional CE vendors.
Perhaps we should blame the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas each year, where the PC companies watch across the aisle as the CE manufacturers reap relatively large margins on products that are often based on CPUs and hard drives. With declining revenues in the traditional PC industry, PC makers such as Apple…
A quickly established favorite among music fans, the CDDB website provides comprehensive information for tracking who and what appears on just about any CD in existence (see previous). But as users of the service are discovering, the company that now maintains the database, Gracenote, is starting to change the rules of access.
The CDDB database has grown over the years as a result of support from the nearly one million users who voluntarily enter information about CDs into the system. But now that Gracenote is tightening control of the database, some are wondering just who owns a publicly…
Stereovox's new Signals: Stereovox, Inc. and Signals-SuperFi, LLC have announced that worldwide distribution for Stereovox products will be handled exclusively by Signals-SuperFi from its Atlanta, GA offices as of November 1, 2005. Known for innovative audio, video, and digital cable technology, Stereovox hopes to increase its exposure and market share by more closely associating with the luxury audio brands represented by Signals-SuperFi.
Signals-SuperFi introduced its debut collection of distributed brands at HE2005 in May, a selection that included the Danish-made Peak-Consult…
As part of the reorganization process at Counterpoint, repair and updating of all Counterpoint products will be handled under designer Michael Elliott's direct supervision at a new facility separate from the manufacturing plant.
Please note the following new address and telephone numbers: Tel: (760) 945 0356; Fax: (760) 945 0219; AOL, AVaudio; Internet, audio@elliottase.com . Shipping address: Counterpoint Repair Center, 914 South Santa Fe, Suite E, Vista, CA 92084.
Hours are 10:30am to 5:00pm PST, Monday through Friday. Counterpoint owners are requested to please contact the Repair…
Beginning next year, XM Satellite Radio won't merely offer 100 channels of news, sports, talk shows, and the entire spectrum of music nationwide. Thanks to a partnership announced May 30 with Command Audio Corporation, XM will allow listeners to personalize their radio programming.
Using Command Audio's technology, XM subscribers will be able to select any programming via handheld remote controls—ostensibly, not while driving—or via the Internet. Command Audio capabilities will be built into the next generation of XM Radio receivers. How they will be implemented is still to be determined…
From the Show:
June 14: The second and third floors of the Westin generally sport the larger exhibits, with a corresponding propensity for BIG BASS. Just like cars on an urban street, rooms here competed in the boom wars, with Show management called in to referee once in while.
Not surprisingly, Wilson Audio, as demonstrated in the L.A. Audio suite, had plenty of firepower ready---their new $38,000/pair MAXX speaker was on display, fronting two boxcar-sized woofer towers. Amplification was from Krell, and a Runco DTV1000 rested on a steel truss. The music portion of the demo was…
It's no secret that the music industry has added watermarking to its arsenal in an effort to restrict how audio content is used. With SACD, DVD-Audio, and now CD, audio watermarking has been used mainly for digitally stored content. But the music business also has problems with live concert bootlegs as well as bootlegs surfacing after special broadcast events.
Unlike the secret tapers of the past, who had to smuggle in their equipment, bootleggers these days don't even need to attend the performances they pirate: Recent trends find the bootleggers outside a venue tapping into the pristine…
Internet service providers (ISPs) have begun fighting back against the blitzkrieg of lawsuits launched by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) in its struggle to contain the file-sharing phenomenon.
On Monday, August 11, NetCoalition, a trade association of ISPs, sent a letter to the RIAA questioning its tactics in litigating against Internet users and the companies that serve them. The group pointed out that file sharing is not illegal, and expressed fear that the RIAA's efforts could lead to "an attack on the legitimate uses of peer-to-peer technology."
The Digital…