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Grooves On The Move

Ready or not, here comes the audio download future—and a sizable portion of it may be wireless (think cellphones). Or at least that's what IDC is predicting in a new study called "US Wireless Music 2005-2009 Forecast and Analysis: Grooves on The Move."

IDC's Susan Kevorkian gets right to the point: "We believe that online and wireless music services may represent the music industry's best long-term prospects for reversing decline and promoting growth, and that these new services will ultimately be the future of recorded music distribution."

Although music downloads are only one…

Sam Phillips, Recording Pioneer, Dead at 80

Sam Phillips, the Memphis recording engineer who was acclaimed by many as one of rock and roll's inventors, died of respiratory failure July 30. He was 80.

Phillips was probably best known for being the first to record Elvis Presley, who walked into his Memphis storefront recording studio at 706 Union Avenue one day in 1953, intent on recording a disc as a birthday present for his mother, Gladys.

The 10 songs Presley recorded for Phillips' independent Sun Records label, which became known as the "Sun Sessions," vaulted Presley to stardom. In a move many people have second-guessed…

It's Official: DVD-Audio Version 1.0 Finally Set

After dozens of thorny issues slowed its progress (see previous report), last week the DVD Forum announced that its Steering Committee has approved Version 1.0 of the DVD-Audio Disc specifications, making it the fifth of the DVD format family after DVD-Video, DVD-ROM, DVD-RAM, and DVD-R. According to a statement, the DVD Forum says it will soon publish the DVD-Audio Format Book, which contains the detailed specification of the format, and make it available to authorized companies by "early spring of this year."

A format war also appears to be brewing between the newly minted DVD-Audio spec…

Congress Ratifies WIPO Treaties; RIAA Rejoices

The Recording Industry of America is among the many organizations celebrating the recent ratification by the U.S. Congress of two treaties signed by more than 100 nations at the 1996 World Intellectual Property Conference in Geneva.

Last Wednesday, October 21, Congress finally put its stamp of approval on the agreements, which will protect the creative works of Americans on the Internet. "The U.S. is taking historic action, demonstrating leadership that can inspire other nations to do the same, protecting the rights of creative Americans and people around the world," said Hilary Rosen…

Noisy E-mail and Recordless Record Companies

E-mail spam just got a lot noisier thanks to AT&T's a2b music and BMG Entertainment. (See previous stories 1, 2.) Last week, they announced that BMG will deliver the first "mass communication" of a2b MAIL to the consumer databases of each of its websites, www.bugjuice.com (alternative and rock music), www.peeps.com (urban music), and www.twangthis.com (country music).

Intended strictly as an e-mail marketing tool, a2b MAIL uses a mini-a2b music client player embedded in the actual e-mail message. To hear the included sample requires no downloads, plug-ins, audio streaming technology,…

Net Music Figures Prominently in Internet Tax Debate

Should Internet sales be subject to taxation? California's US Senator Diane Feinstein doesn't think so. Neither do most of her constituents in Silicon Valley, who are riding an unprecedented wave of prosperity as the growth of Internet commerce continues. Many folks outside Silicon Valley, especially traditional retailers, see no reason why e-commerce should be exempt from sales taxes.

The lack of sales tax has always been a strong draw for mail-order catalog sales, especially of music recordings. Despite low numbers relative to annual music sales of all kinds (more than $14 billion in…

EMI Finally Puts Up

With Napster as the little red devil with a pitchfork prodding them on, the third-largest record company in the world, EMI, making good on its earlier announcement, last week became the first major label to begin releasing music online. In a move the company hopes will silence the critics who say that Napster has become successful because the big labels have provided no Web-based alternatives, EMI put over 100 albums and 40 singles online "through all the normal retail websites."

The list of albums released for download features major releases from several musical genres, including Pink…

UCSF Monkey Business Draws McCartney's Ire

The intentional deafening of monkeys by researchers at the University of California, San Francisco has provoked a strongly worded protest by Paul McCartney. In a letter dated July 6, McCartney complained to UCSF Chancellor Michael Bishop that "there can be no excuse for inflicting such misery" on animals used in such experiments. The letter was the latest salvo fired in a controversy going back to early February.

Researchers Marshall Fong and Stephen Cheung had intended to deafen several squirrel monkeys by subjecting them to ultra-high-intensity sound-pressure levels (SPLs). Last winter…

Denon and Marantz to combine operations

A year ago, Marantz gained full command over its own operations when Philips reduced its participation in the company from 50.5% to 49% by selling 1.5% of the shares to Marantz Japan Inc. (MJI).

A new development took place last week. In a joint communiqué issued March 7, MJI and its largest shareholder, Royal Philips Electronics, and Denon Ltd. and its largest (98%) shareholder, Ripplewood Holdings LLC, announced the establishment of D&M Holdings, Inc. D&M will be a joint holding company created to merge the operations of Marantz and Denon. The transaction is expected to be…

Recommended Components Errata

As I explain in the current issue's "As We See It" column, I decide on the ratings of the equipment featured in Stereophile's "Recommended Components" listing after consultation with the reviewers, taking into account the original review comments and, sometimes, my own experience.

But despite our best efforts, things can still go awry. This was the case with the Final Laboratory Music-4 phono preamplifier, which was rated Class C in the April 2002 list (Vol.25 No.4, p.100). This rating was suggested by Michael Fremer, who had reviewed the model in our January issue. Unfortunately, while…