The Ebb and Flow of Internet Music Distribution
Looks like it might be a while before a profitable formula jells for selling music over the Internet. News this week indicates that one of the largest music retailers, Tower">http://www.towerrecords.com">Tower Records, is finally ready to challenge the market, while online distribution pioneer N2Khttp://www.n2k.com">N2K; will be scaling back operations until things steady a bit.
The ELF Foundation
The Elf">http://www.elfsystems.org">Elf Foundation's accomplishments are extraordinary. In just four and a half years, the nonprofit organization has facilitated the design and construction of more than 40 Rooms of Magic. These are private entertainment theaters in medical facilities for children: hospitals, as well as centers for autism, abused children, and kids with long-term disabilities. And none of the design work or state-of-the-art equipment for these children's oases costs the host facilities a cent.
The Empire Strikes Back
We all know the refrain. Classical music is losing its audience. With shorter attention spans, the ascent of the iPod, a penchant for music (and spoken word masquerading as music) in the background, and the submergence of audio by home theater, fewer and fewer people in the United States are being exposed to art music of the past and present.
The End of "Out of Print"?
Last Thursday, Virgin">http://www.virgin.com/">Virgin Entertainment Group announced an agreement with RedDotNethttp://www.reddotnet.com/">RedDotNet;, a Digital on Demand company, that Virgin says will allow its customers to download music and create custom CDs, DVDs, and MiniDiscs in-store. Virgin describes the deal as "a revolutionary development heralding a new wave of music retailing." As part of the agreement, Virgin will become a shareholder in Digital on Demand, RedDotNet's parent company.
The End of Analog As We Knew It?
First with CD players, then digital preamps, and recently amplifiers, digital technology has ground inexorably through the audio chain. Several companies have been developing ways to shorten the analog path or remove it entirely. Meridian's">http://www.meridian.co.uk/">Meridian's "digital" loudspeakers come to mind, as well as the amplifiers from manufacturers Spectronhttp://www.spectronav.com">Spectron; and TacThttp://www.tactaudio.com">TacT;.
The End of the Audiophile Nightmare?
Last week, Cirrus">http://www.cirrus.com">Cirrus Logic unveiled two new Crystal digital-to-analog converters that the company says will support both dueling high-definition audio standards: DVD-Audio and Super Audio CD (SACD). As a result, the new DACs should enable the creation of universal DVD players for both the mass and high-end audio markets. The new DACs are the CS4397 "SuperDAC," which the company describes as a "high-performance audio DAC on a single chip" with 120dB dynamic range performance; and the CS4391, a lower-cost DAC also supporting DVD-Audio and SACD and sporting a 108dB dynamic range.
The Ever-Mutating CD
Although the CD was successfully released into the music industry gene pool 20 years ago, several companies are still tinkering with its DNA in order to assist record labels in restricting how consumers use their discs.
The February Issue Is Here!
MBL's mighty N31 CD player-DAC is featured on the new issue's cover and gets an in-depth review from John Atkinson inside, but February is also our annual "Records 2 Die 4" feature: Our team of writers put their heads together and came up with 61 albums that they will take with them when they go.
The February Issue's Here!
"The Record Player Reborn" declare the new issue's cover, referring to reviews of LP players from Oracle, Acoustic Signature, and VPI. But digital isn't forgotten, with John Atkinson raving about about Chord's new $599 portable DAC, Larry Greenhill upgrading his Bryston BDP-2 file player with a new soundboard, and Digital Audio Review's John Darkø kicking off the issue with a guest editorial on the boom in personal listening in Japan. And topping it all off is our annual "Records to Die For" listing: 56 albums every audiophile should have in their collection.
The First Issue of 2016 Has Arrived
Technics’ little gem of a speaker, the two-way SB-C700, signifies both the Japanese brand’s return to the high-performance audio scene and the start of Stereophile’s 54th year of continuous publication. Paradigm’s Prestige 95F tower speaker also gets the full review treatment, along with an idiosyncratic two-box CD player from the UK’s Audio Note, BAT’s cost-no-object Rex II tube preamplifier, and Apogee’s affordable but great-sounding Groove D/A headphone amplifier.