It's no secret that audio publications around the world have been shrinking or disappearing of late. John Atkinson writes in his September 1999 "As We See It" that although the trend has certainly affected <I>Stereophile</I>'s girth, steps have been taken to fatten the audiophile content of every issue. Read his analysis of the situation in <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com//asweseeit/135/">"Closer Together Covers?"</A>
Last week, GlobalNet Systems announced that violinist Itzhak Perlman has joined its subsidiary <A HREF="http://www.OEN.com">On-Line Entertainment Network</A> as consultant and advisory boardmember. The company says that Mr. Perlman will consult on its acquisition and production of live classical-music events and the licensing of master catalogs of recorded classical music. He also joins an advisory board that will advise on future trends and opportunities for the company. The company intends to add other major artists to its advisory board in coming months.
Wes Phillips explains that Adcom is one of those companies that is easy to take for granted. "To break through our complacency, Adcom would have to produce an outright unlistenable turkey—or a product that raised the bar so high that any audio manufacturer would get a hernia just <I>thinking</I> about raising it again."
Tonal accuracy vs. soundstage? "Achieving an optimum balance between the two philosophical extremes of recording is where much of the art lies. It also begs the question, of course, of why it's impossible to have both: a recording with a virtual-reality sense of imaging that also captures all the sound without any coloration." While recording the <I>Sonata</I> CD for <I>Stereophile</I>, John Atkinson wrestles with every recording engineer's dilemma. Read about the struggle to capture Robert Silverman performing Liszt's monumental B-Minor Piano Sonata and the ultimate solution in "<A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com//features/131/">Fate, I Defy You</A>," added this week to the archives.
Last week, <A HREF="http://www.usadr.com">USA Digital Radio</A>, a developer of In-Band On-Channel Digital Audio Broadcast (IBOC DAB) technology, announced an "aggressive" field-test campaign at 12 radio stations across the country. The company will be conducting the digital tests under experimental licenses issued by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). With most equipment already installed, according to USA Digital Radio, test efforts are currently underway at several stations.
While recording the <I>Encore</I> CD for <I>Stereophile</I>, John Atkinson had to decide: "Should I add some artificial reverberation?" After much gnashing of teeth, he plowed ahead. Read about the process in "<A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com//features/129/">Encore</A>," an in-depth look at the recording techniques, the artists, and the music.
While decidedly "niche products," as Martin Colloms describes them, single-ended (SE) tube amplifiers have still found a happy home in many audiophile systems. But a trap awaits those who wish to evaluate the differences between an SE and a solid-state or push-pull tube amplifier, or between two SE amps. In "<A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com//features/127/">The Unseen Variable</A>," Colloms digs to the bottom of this complicated matter.
The age of digital music downloads has begun in earnest. On July 20, <A HREF="http://www.emigroup.com/">EMI Recorded Music</A> announced that it has signed a deal with <A HREF="http://www.digitalon-demand.com/">Digital On-Demand</A> and its subsidiary, RedDotNet Inc., to make the EMI catalog available for downloading to kiosks in music stores. The kiosks will be equipped with CD "burners" where customers can copy EMI recordings not in stock in the stores. They will also be able to print out the original cover art and liner notes. Discs can be copied at high speed in 5 to 15 minutes using RedDotNet's technology, the announcement noted.
Winter had just touched down in Santa Fe two days before the recording sessions were to begin, leading Wes Phillips to wonder if the damp air would wreak havoc with tuning. But he needn't have worried, writing that violinist Ida Levin "played with such intense concentration that sometimes she seemed about to levitate off the floor as she chased a melodic line into the ether." In <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com//features/125/"><I>Duet</I>: And Two to Carry Your Soul Away</A>, Ida Levin and John Atkinson join Wes Phillips in chronicling the recording from both musical and technical perspectives.
Internet music retailer <A HREF="http://www.cdnow.com/">CDnow</A> has formed a partnership with <A HREF="http://www.sony.com/">Sony Corporation</A> and <A HREF="http://www.timewarner.com/">Time Warner</A> to build a music and video retailing behemoth. The July 13 announcement came in the wake of online bookseller <A HREF="http://www.amazon.com/">Amazon.com</A>'s recent move into the music market. With the backing of corporate giants Sony and Time Warner, CDnow could be able to mount a challenge to the growing presence of Amazon, which is also expanding into toy sales and consumer electronics.