Freebies Fading as Napster Goes Commercial?
Money and legal pressure can make even the fiercest tiger change its stripes. Nearing the end of prolonged litigation with the music industry, Napsterhttp://www.napster.com/">Napster; has begun to go commercial.
French Fries from AudioVision San Francisco
The idea was as cute as the chapeaux that Antonio Long, Randy Johnson, and Marlen Kirby (from left to right in photo above) invariably sport at AudioVision SF. Schedule a public demo on November 14 with two French manufacturers, Triangle Loudspeakers and Devialet, and call it "French Fries." Then, however, reality intervened, and an evening that included debuts of two products, Triangle's Signature line Alpha loudspeakers and Nordost's Sort Füt Premium Kit, morphed into a Franco-American feast complete with Norwegian-American trimmings.
From Simaudio's Moon: A new product, a new series
Simaudio has introduced a streaming network streamer/integrated amplifier, the Moon 371, the first product in a new, more affordable series called Compass. Why Compass? The name evokes the name of the higher-end North series, introduced in 2023. "Compass guides you North," a Simaudio rep said at a press event in Boucherville, across the river from Montreal.
FTC Ruling Against Major Labels Sparks Class-Action Suits
The gold rush is on in the wake of a Federal">http://www.ftc.gov/">Federal Trade Commission decision effectively ending the music industry's policy of minimum advertised pricing (MAP) on compact discs. Attorneys in California and New York wasted no time in filing class-action lawsuits against the music industry's major conglomerates, following the FTC's">http://www.stereophile.com/news/10744/">FTC's announcement May 10 that it had reached a negotiated settlement with them over a longstanding noncompetitive pricing policy.
FTC: Three Tenors—The Fix Was In
Universal">http://www.umusic.com">Universal Music Group and Warner">http://www.wmg.com">Warner Music Group are more than friendly competitors, in the view of the Federal">http://www.ftc.gov">Federal Trade Commission. They are also partners in crime, according to charges filed against the two on July 31 in New York.
FTC: No More Minimum Advertised Pricing on CDs
Retail prices of compact discs are likely to drop in the coming months, thanks to a Federal">http://www.ftc.gov/">Federal Trade Commission action ending an industry-wide price-support policy begun five years ago. On May 10, the FTC announced that it had reached an agreement with the "Big Five" of the music business—Time Warner Inc.'s Warner Music, Seagram Ltd.'s Universal Music, Sony Music Entertainment, BMG Entertainment, and EMI Group PLC—that will effectively end the practice of "minimum advertised pricing" (MAP) instituted as a response to music-retailing price wars in the mid-1990s. Under MAP, retailers were forbidden to advertise CDs below an established minimum, at the risk of losing millions of promotional dollars from the record labels.
Furor Arises Over Counterfeit Oyaide AC Plugs
In the early morning hours of December 11, Joseph Cohen of the Lotus">http://www.lotusgroupusa.com">Lotus Group, the exclusive distributor of Oyaide products in North America, sent out a "Lotus Group News Flash!" The e-mail, dated December 10, declared:
Future Meets Present at MB-5 Conference
It's five years from now. Wide bandwidth has made audio-on-demand as commonplace as ATM machines and cellular phones were in 1999. Music lovers can plug into the Internet from almost anywhere and download any tunes they wish to hear anytime they wish to hear them for only pennies per song. Portable devices the size of wristwatches contain entire libraries of music. Picture frames, computer screens, and ceiling tiles all double as loudspeakers. Intuitive programs suggest personal playlists based on databases of prior requests. People are awash in a sea of music.
G.I.P. Laboratory and Tamba at AXPONA 2026
At AXPONA 2026, Ken Micallef speaks with Steven Mishoe about G.I.P. Laboratory 225 speakers and Tamba TS-1 standmounts—the latter being a prototype of his own design.
Göbel, Kronos, and TLA Shine
The German loudspeaker and cable manufacturer released its new Divin Sovereign Referenz Subwoofer ($29,500, with extra charges for special Black 24k Gold, White, and White 24k Gold finishes). Demonstrated with Göbel's Divin Marquis loudspeaker that John Atkinson reviewed in October 2020 and billed as the company's "ultimate benchmark," the active, DSP-controlled, closed-chamber sub includes an 18" driver in a resin-bound composite board cabinet with "massive acoustic baffles" of 75mm maximum thickness and extensive internal bracing. Weight is 145kgthat's almost 320lbdimensions are nearly as major, frequency response is 10200Hz depending upon DSP filters, and total output power is 2500W.