S<I>tereophile</I> readers tend to exhibit above-average interest in the art and science of reproducing music in the home. Those whose interest extends back up the recording chain and into the recording studio may want to take a look at the <A HREF="http://www.studiosource.com/prestige">Prestige Studios of the World</A> website, developed by an Internet company looking to show off its digital wares.
Last week, <A HREF="http://www.philips.com">Philips Electronics</A> and <A HREF="http://www.sony.com">Sony Corporation</A> announced the completion of Version 1.0 of the Super Audio Compact Disc (SACD) format specification. According to a statement, the format specification will be released to licensees early this month to allow hardware manufacturers and software providers to begin preparing products for launch in the coming months.
The English flat-panel speaker company <A HREF="http://www.nxt.co.uk/">New Transducers Ltd.</A>, also known as NXT, recently announced a new transparent loudspeaker technology called SoundVu that the company says will enable television and computer screens to function simultaneously as loudspeakers.
Several weeks back, the music industry's fear of MP3 audio technology came to a head with the release of Diamond Multimedia's Rio playback device. (See <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/news/10324/">previous</A> and <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/news/10389/">related</A> stories.) The <A HREF="http://www.riaa.com">Recording Industry Association of America</A> then announced a new plan, called the Secure Digital Music Initiative (SDMI; see <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/news/10338/">previous article</A>), in an effort to bring the music and audio-technology industries together to solve the problem of digital music piracy.
Two elements that keep the audio business interesting are the new companies and technologies arriving almost every week (see also BW's <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/news/10382/">story</A>). Some stick around for years, while others fade away between hi-fi shows. But amid the incessant change are a handful of characters who stay with it, continually evolving with the industry and reinventing themselves with each twist and turn.
After dozens of thorny issues slowed its progress (see <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/news/10281/">previous report</A>), last week the <A HREF="http://www.dvdforum.com/">DVD Forum</A> announced that its Steering Committee has approved Version 1.0 of the DVD-Audio Disc specifications, making it the fifth of the DVD format family after DVD-Video, DVD-ROM, DVD-RAM, and DVD-R. According to a statement, the DVD Forum says it will soon publish the DVD-Audio Format Book, which contains the detailed specification of the format, and make it available to authorized companies by "early spring of this year."
After a particularly tough year, Carver Corporation announced last week that it has executed an agreement with founder Bob Carver, who had sold his interest in the company and then started up privately held Sunfire Corporation (<A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/news/10254/">see previous story</A>). The new agreement places Sunfire in charge of the development, manufacturing, marketing, and distribution, under the Carver brand name, of a new line of home and car products that will incorporate "new" technologies. The agreement also establishes a new manufacturer's representative and independent dealer network to rebuild Carver Corporation, and for Bob Carver to assume full operational control of the company.
S<I>tereophile</I> readers with a hunger for licorice pizza may wish to turn their attention to the Phonogram mailing list---an online, noncommercial discussion forum for those interested in vinyl and related topics. According to Phonogram's material, "the group is an open, informative, interesting, and just plain fun place for people to share their enthusiasm for, knowledge of, and opinions on music on shiny black discs. Although the focus is primarily on 33 1/3rpm vinyl LPs, comments and questions on 45s, 78s, open-reel tapes, or other media (even CeeDees) are welcome. Discussion of hardware supporting record playback (e.g., turntables, tonearms, cartridges, phono stages, and accessories) is fair game as well."
MP3 audio files have quickly become the dominant format for downloading music over the Internet, and have just as quickly raised the ire of music labels and artists looking to protect their musical assets. For example, a petition signed by nearly 400 European recording artists (including Mstislav Rostropovich and Barbara Hendricks) was handed to the European Parliament last Tuesday by French composer Jean-Michel Jarre to protest lax copyright protections exacerbated by digital technology. The petition states, in part, "We want to use new digital technologies like the Internet to create and to deliver our music, but we will only feel confident doing so if we know that the laws are there to stop our works falling victim to pirates."
We've all heard about "Internet time"---that fraction of the "normal" time interval for a similar activity to occur on the Internet. As if to put an exclamation point on the concept of Internet time, the <A HREF="http://www.narm.com">National Association of Recording Merchandisers</A> (NARM) plans to make audio history March 10 at the 1999 NARM Convention coming up in Las Vegas.