A Future of Digital Audio Watermarking and SDMI?
According to a report released last week by Cahners">http://www.cahnersinstat.com">Cahners In-Stat Group, a high-tech market research firm, the market for personal digital music players using audio compression technologies will experience a tremendous increase in growth through the next several years. Nearly $800 million in player sales are expected in 2003, spurred largely by widespread Internet access. The report also states that products in this segment will initially focus on downloading technologies like MP3, and over the next 12 months consumers should expect to see more features integrated into the players such as FM tuners, increased storage capacity, and security systems like Secure Digital Music Initiative (SDMIhttp://sdmi.org/">SDMI;).
A GoldenEar Event in Baltimore
Thursday, February 13, 2020, 6–8pm: You are invited to an Evening at Soundscape, 406 W. Cold Spring Ln., Baltimore, MD, for a chance to talk with special guest Sandy Gross, founder and president of GoldenEar Technology.
A Gryphon Event in Falls Church, Virginia
On Friday, December 2, Command Performance AV in Falls Church, Virginia, will host a special listening event with Rune Skov, Sales Director of Gryphon Audio Designs.
A Guide to Ambient Music on the Web
Pauline Oliveros calls it "deep listening"—a way to pay attention to the sensual qualities of sound itself. Welcome to a world of music that defies categorization, that invites a listener to soak slowly into a deep and otherworldly zone. This music goes by many names: ambient, spacemusic, electronica, sacred music, tribal/trance. Alas, you'll often find it hiding in the New Age section. Unlike some fluffier New Age fare, good ambient albums can explore the deeper, more solitary spaces. At its best, ambient music can sensitize you to sound in unique ways. It can enlarge your listening space to cavernous dimensions, paint hallucinogenic sonic landscapes, summon primordial forces, or enshroud you in clouds of diffuse vapor.
A Guide to Ambient Music on the Web, Part Two
Last week, Robert Rich began this two-part article (click">http://www.stereophile.com/news/10508/">click here for part one) with an explanation of ambient music and pointers to some of his favorite artists' web pages. This week he wraps up with more web resources, including record labels, webzines, and online radio programs dedicated to the genre.
A Hi-Fi Event at Soundings in Denver, Colorado
Thursday, November 14, 6–9pm: Join Denver, Colorado's Soundings Fine Audio Video for an evening of Hifi awesomeness as they host friends and representatives from Boulder Amplifiers, Rockport Technologies, and Nordost Cables. The event will include the worldwide debut of the Boulder 866 integrated amplifier.
A High-Resolution Audio Primer
January's Industry Update included a report on a scientific article presented at last year's AES meeting, in which the authors used test tones and a modest audio system (albeit in an anechoic chamber) to prove that listeners can discriminate between high-rez and CD-rez audio. This is important because scientific evidence of an audible difference between high-rez and CD-rez music is considered weak by some, even as anecdotal evidence grows stronger by the day.
As I pondered this, I recalled a recent paper I'd seen in the Journal of the Audio Engineering Society but hadn't yet read. "High Resolution Audio: A History and Perspective," which the AES has made available free online, does precisely what the title says: reviews the history of digital audio beyond CD-rez and frames the issue of high-rez audio's audible superiority on the basis of the available evidence.
A McIntosh of a Different Color
McIntosh Laboratory announced its $6000 MS750 music server on May 30. The second music server in McIntosh's line, the MS750 incorporates a 750GB hard drive and integrated Web interface capabilities. McIntosh estimates that the MS750 is capable of storing 2700 CDs at full resolution, or about 12,000 songs.
A Music Lover Remembered
Chris Keeler was the first guy I ever knew with an exotic turntable and a record library that most radio stations would envy. The love of music was a driving force throughout his life, one that sustained him right to the end.
A Must-Have Rachmaninoff CD
It starts quietly enough, with a simple falling-fifth motif, but the first movement of Sergei Rachmaninoff's neglected Piano Sonata 1 develops into a work of epic proportions nearly 40 minutes in length, with haunting melodies, massive dynamic contrasts, and lush, sensual harmonies.