These were among the questions addressed by a panel of audio industry luminaries at a discussion entitled High Resolution Audio in an Age of Universal Playback, held the first day of the 117th Audio Engineering Society convention, October 28–30 at Moscone Center in San Francisco. Chaired by audio signal processing…
search
Is there a future for high-resolution recordings? Why do so many people fail to hear a difference between them and ordinary CDs? Why do some purportedly high-rez discs sound so bad? What obstacles does the audio industry face in trying to make high-rez a commercial success?
In 1997, Martin Colloms reviewed the Krell Full Power Balanced 600 power amplifier, wondering "Can a 600Wpc amplifier be relevant to domestic high fidelity?"
Next, from August 1995, Robert Deutsch adds the pricey Jeff Rowland Design Group Model 2 power amplifier to his system asking "How do you define value in an audio component?" For most audiophiles like RD, it is not always a matter of "price:watt ratios."
From the June 1996 issue, Robert Deutsch explains why the YBA 1 Alpha HC power amplifier is an example "of auteur theory in audio." As Deutsch notes, not only do YBA…
The struggle for position in the Internet-based audio downloading market continues unabated. On the format front, Sony has recently announced several deals to bring its ATRAC compressed-audio format to the Web, while IBM and Liquid Audio announced last week that they have entered into a strategic relationship intended to "advance the digital music marketplace" with content-management tools.
Under the new agreement, Liquid Audio says it plans to license the digital rights management (DRM) technology from IBM's Electronic Media Management System (EMMS) for integration into Liquid's music…
According to a recent report released by Information Technology researchers Frost & Sullivan, the world Internet audio market generated revenues totaling $42 million in 1998, which dwarfs the 1997 revenues by 1516%. The report predicts that this market will continue growing at a healthy rate, achieving an increase into the triple percentage digits by the end of 1999.
The report indicates that the primary drivers behind the popularity of this "booming market" include the flexibility that it gives users to compile the music they prefer, its accessibility through the Internet, and the…
We all know by now the perils of proclaiming a winner before all of the votes have been cast, but with the possible future of high-resolution audio and video data storage at stake, the temptation to call it early is great.
Unlike the SACD/DVD-Audio format struggle, which has passed largely unnoticed by the mainstream press for the last five years, the HD-DVD vs Blu-ray battle has already gained prominent notice around the globe, and strategic hardware and software alliances for both formats are quickly gelling.
Frost & Sullivan researcher Rajesh Kannan recently declared, "The…
Following the Sony/Philips jump from the starting line with Wednesday's SACD announcements, the DVD-Audio camp quickly came up to speed at the HI-FI '99 press luncheon with their plans for players and discs to appear this fall. First up at the podium was Jordan Rost from the Warner Music Group. Contrasts with the SACD position were established from the start when Rost made it obvious that, unlike SACD, DVD-Audio seeks to embrace not only high-end audio, but also various forms of video, and even Internet interactivity. Rost even went so far as to say that DVD-Audio discs could "play on CD…
Music industry veteran Rudi Gassner died Saturday, December 23 at his vacation home in the Bavarian town of Samerberg. Recently appointed as president and chief executive of BMG Entertainment, Gassner had yet to assume the helm at the record label. The cause of death was a heart attack, according to a statement issued by his family. Gassner was 58.
"The death of Rudi Gassner is a tragic loss," Bertelsmann chairman Thomas Middelhoff said Sunday, describing Gassner as "a successful media entrepreneur and a great hope for us all in view of the necessary development and reorganization of our…
Music lovers worldwide are mourning the passing of violinist Isaac Stern, who died of heart failure in a New York hospital Saturday, September 22. Stern was 81.
Stern had suffered from heart disease in recent years, even as he kept to a busy schedule of performing, teaching, and working as president of Carnegie Hall, the 110-year-old venue he helped save from the wrecker's ball more than 40 years ago. He performed at Carnegie more than 200 times, beginning with his first performance there on January 8, 1943. During his peak, Stern often gave as many as 200 concerts worldwide in a single…
Rolling Stone is going head-to-head with MTV. Last week, Wenner Media, Inc, announced a partnership with JamTV to create a music site on the Web. Wenner is the parent company of Rolling Stone magazine. JamTV is an eight-month-old Internet start-up that broadcasts live concerts.
The idea is to combine JamTV's technical prowess with Rolling Stone's cachet. The new service, to be called Rolling Stone Network, will compete against MTV and several other companies for the attention and dollars of online music fans.
Technology is rapidly improving for the distribution of audio and video…
Over three quarters of a million readers served! With several million "page views" and dozens of millions of "hits" in the past 365 days, the Stereophile website has continued to grow steadily, with a record number of folks visiting practically every week. We've also dished out over 300 news articles---practically an article each day---covering everything audio, from important new-technology announcements to the demise and then rebirth of several legendary brands.
One of the most popular features of the website has been the weekly Vote! question. With over 50 topics covered thus far, the…