Universal Audio Decoding For All?
More good news for budget-conscious audiophiles who are waiting for that all-in-one universal high-resolution audio player: Yet another chip manufacturer is announcing a decoder IC that will allow new DVD machines to untangle just about any audio file format. Last week, LuxSonor Semiconductors joined the growing list (see previoushttp://www.stereophile.com/news/11059/">previous;) of chip manufacturers that are including both DVD-Audio and SACD in one package.
Universal Audio Love
SACD partisans Sony and Philips continue to release new disc players that also decode DVD-Video, but not DVD-Audio. And arch-DVD-A supporter Meridian, as well as companies such as McIntosh, are releasing DVD-A and DVD-V players that don't do SACD. But there are exceptions, notably Pioneerhttp://www.pioneerelectronics.com">Pioneer;, who debuted the first widely available "universal" player, the DV-AX10">http://www.stereophile.com//digitalsourcereviews/515/">DV-AX10 SACD/DVD-A/CD player, last year.
Universal Goes Universal
Last year in late October, Universal Music Group finally announcedhttp://www.stereophile.com/news/11476/">announced; its first set of SACD titles and the high-rez format's supporters jumped for joy. Then, at the January 2003 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, Universal stood on the podium next to Sony and announced several key SACD releases from the Police, Peter Gabriel, and others.
Universal Inks Deal with EMusic
Love it or loathe it, Internet music is here to stay.
Universal Music Begins Digital Download Trial
Real businesses are moving into territory explored by the upstarts. On August 2, Universal">http://www.umusic.com/">Universal Music Group, the world's largest record label, announced that it will begin offering, on a trial basis, digital downloads of recordings from its massive catalog. The experiment is scheduled to begin this week, with an initial offering of about 60 songs from artists in several genres, including operatic tenor Luciano Pavarotti, jazz guitarist George Benson, and pop band Blink 182.
Universal Music Goes with SACD
Have the format wars begun in earnest? Only a few days after Warner Brothers announced the DVD-Audio release of Paul Simon's You're the One, Universal">http://www.umusic.com">Universal Music Group announced its plan to release titles in the Super Audio CD format.
Universal Music Group Goes MQA
On February 16, Universal Music Group and MQA announced a multi-year agreement that will encode UMG's huge catalog of master recordings in MQA. In the language of the press release, the agreement promises "to make some of the world's most celebrated recordings available for the first time in Hi-Res Audio streaming." UMG's labels include ECM, Interscope, Geffen, A&M, Capitol, Island, Def Jam, Decca, Verve, Blue Note, Virgin, and EMI.
Universal Music Group Rediscovers Music
Universal Music Group must be taking its name seriously these days. At a time when some proclaim the demise">http://www.stereophile.com/news/031907premature">demise of the classical recording industry, the conglomerate's many subsidiaries —Decca, Deutsche Grammophon, Philips, and Archiv, along with ECM, which has only a marketing and distribution arrangement with UMG —are embracing new projects on multiple continents with determination and optimism.
Universal Music Group Will Go Online Soon
One of the music industry's "big five" will soon begin offering its wares as digital downloads. Seagram, Ltd. chief executive Edgar Bronfman, speaking on Friday, March 3 at the Jupiter Consumer Online forum in New York, said his Universal">http://www.umusic.com/">Universal Music Group will start selling music online this spring.
Universal Music Group's Blu-ray/Hi-Res Initiative
Thumbing their collective nose at pundits who predict the imminent demise of physical media, Universal Music Group has begun reissuing select back catalog and new releases in Pure Audio (audio only) Blu-Ray 24/96 and/or 24/96 download formats. The first of the classical titles appeared in February, with more rolling out all the time. To get the skinny on UMG's plans for Blu-ray and hi-res, I conducted two separate interviews with folks in the UK. The first, with Barry Holden, the extremely committed and highly articulate VP of Classical Catalogue at Universal Music, appears below.