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iPod: Threat or Menace?

In an article published in The Wall Street Journal on March 1, Ethan Smith suggested that consumer electronics companies need to recapture music lovers who have sacrificed audio quality in search of convenience by embracing portable devices such as the iPod.

Smith wrote: "When it comes to music, consumers are increasingly trading quality for quantity. Many would rather have the ability to store thousands of songs on portable devices—and have a constant soundtrack to their lives—than own stacks of CDs and listen to high-quality sound tethered to an expensive living-room system."

Smith…

Added to the Archives This Week

As Shannon Dickson puts it, the Audio Artistry Beethoven loudspeaker system "is a four-piece, bi-amplified, dynamic dipole design which has been taken to the nth degree of refinement." After much time spent reveling in the speaker's sonic splendor, Dickson arrives at his aural conclusion.

Chip Stern writes that some audiophiles like to keep it simple when it comes to components, arguing that they "don't want racks of gear or snake pits full of cables and interconnects," and that they also "don't want to have to futz around with all this nonsense and still not end up with real system synergy…

MartinLogan Sold to ShoreView Industries, Inc.

Better Audio Downloads

Four short years ago, rock band Metallica angered part of its fan base by going after downloaders who used the online file-trading service Napster. At that time, the band provided Napster with the screen names of 335,000 users reputed to be pirating Metallica's music, and demanded they be removed from the service. The group was also the first to sue the fledgling company.

Metallica fans called for a boycott of the band's music and it was the beginning of the end for Napster, which was eventually squashed and has been reborn as a pay-for-music service. Metallica will now try to clear its…

Electrical Power Industry Deregulation Opens Door for Scammers?

You may have noticed recent news items about proposals to deregulate the electrical power industry. You may have received solicitations to sign on with some start-up utility you never heard of, promising 10% to 40% reductions in your electrical bill. The model for this deregulation---if it comes to pass---is the long-distance telephone industry.

How might something like this be technically feasible? In North America, the majority of electrical utility companies no longer serve simple local jurisdictions. Except for extremely remote communities, electrical power grids are interconnected…

National Public Radio Launches <I>Lost & Found Sound</I>

In January, National Public Radio launched an ambitious series chronicling the history of the 20th century in sound. Lost & Found Sound began with the first half of a two-part piece on the father of audio technology, entitled "The Rise and Fall of Thomas Alva Edison." Part two, which examines Edison's competition, will be broadcast this week.

The series can be heard on all NPR stations, and over the Internet via RealNetworks' RealPlayer G2. Version 5.0 of the popular audio software is now available for Mac and Unix users.

One intriguing part of the project, designed by Randy…

New Life For An Old Musical Style?

Who says classical music is having trouble finding a contemporary audience? According to the latest Arbitron webcast ratings, for December, 2000, classical music and internet-only webcaster Beethoven.com ranked number one with the most aggregate tuning hours (ATH) for the month. ATH describes the sum total of all hours that listeners tune to a given channel.

According to the Arbitron ratings, Beethoven.com, which is streamed and hosted by iBeam, had a total of 565,700 ATH for December. In addition, two other classical streaming audio webcast channels ranked in the top 25: Seattle-based…

Artists Take On Record Companies

Vivendi Universal's Universal Music Group will establish a settlement fund of approximately $4.75 million to pay royalties to as many as 300 artists and their heirs. The fund is the result of a lawsuit brought by torch singer Peggy Lee, who had accused the music giant of accounting improprieties reaching back as far as the 1940s.

UMG admitted no wrongdoing in agreeing to establish the fund. Preliminary settlement papers were signed January 16 by lawyers for both sides in a Los Angeles Superior Court. Judge Victoria Gerrard Chaney described the agreement as "reasonable and fair,"…

Online Music News

Online music is inching its way toward commercial viability.

With Apple Computer reportedly only a few days away from launching its own subscription music service, Seattle-based RealNetworks has purchased San Francisco's Listen.com for $36 million. The acquisition will give RealNetworks control of subscription service Rhapsody and double the company's stake in Internet music services. RealNetworks already owns 40% of MusicNet, a service begun last year with the backing of major record labels.

The purchase follows an initial investment in Listen.com made in February. The deal…

Added to the Archives This Week:

We posted an update on Peter Belt and his activities earlier in the month, but the saga began many moons ago. If you're curious about where it all began, or just need to know more, then J. Gordon Holt's "L'Affaire Belt" is for you. Stranger than fiction? Guaranteed.

"This topic is a bit controversial, in that my views on it are not shared by John Atkinson and Larry Archibald." With this, J. Gordon Holt kicks off the thought-provoking "The Acoustical Standard." Included are opposing comments from JA and a selection of readers' letters. Find out why The Original Audiophile's statements…