Verance Awarded Patent for Anti-Collusion Technology
Last week, Verancehttp://www.verance.com">Verance; announced that the US Patent and Trademark Office has issued them a new patent intended to prevent the disabling of a watermark on recorded content. The patent is entitled "Method and Apparatus for Preventing Removal of Embedded Information in Cover Signals." The company has recently drawn the ire of audiophiles, who claim that its watermarking methods are audible in high resolution media such as DVD-Audio recordings (see previous">http://www.stereophile.com/news/10807/">previous report).
Verance Reconfirmed as SDMI Standard
The Secure">http://www.sdmi.org">Secure Digital Music Initiative has decided to reconfirm San Diego–based Verance">http://www.verance.com">Verance Corporation's watermarking technology as its choice for inhibiting piracy in digitally recorded music. The May 21 announcement was made by the SDMI Plenary after a year-long campaign to evaluate the effectiveness and audibilityhttp://www.stereophile.com/news/10870/">audibility; of watermarks from 14 different vendors. The group has also apparently decided to halt further research and development efforts, which have been widely blamed for hobbling the rollout of DVD-Audio.
Vibes Master Lionel Hampton Dies
Music fans are mourning the passing of swing era giant Lionel Hampton. The vibraphonist, band leader, and multi-instrumentalist died August 31 at Mount Sinai Medical Center in Manhattan of complications from age and a recent heart attack, according to his manager Phil Leshin. Hampton was 94.
Video Hot, Audio Not
During the recent, successful Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, the Consumer">http://www.CE.org">Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) predicted that manufacturer-to-dealer sales of consumer electronics products will total a record $101 billion in 2004—a 5% increase over 2003.
Vienna Sound Fest 2026, featuring Vinnie Rossi, AudioNostrum, and many other manufacturers, will take place June 4–7
Vinnie Rossi, AudioNostrum, and other key manufacturers will be participating in Vienna Sound Fest 2026, an exclusive international high-end audio event taking place at Tech Gate Vienna from June 4–7, 2026. Vienna Sound Fest is just a 3-minute walk from Austria Center Vienna, the official venue of High End Vienna 2026.
Viiv Is Coming
Using a personal computer as an audio component has certainly gained ground with gearheads in the last several years, and many new products, such as media servers, blur the line between a traditional component and a PC. At the same time, the general public is still resisting the idea of booting up their stereos or TVs.
Vinyl Daze
This last week has generated more mainstream coverage of the vinyl world than we've seen in, say, the last 20 years.
Vinyl Event in Santa Rosa Saturday
Saturday, April 29, from 15pm, Lavish Hi-Fi (1044 4th Street, Santa Rosa, CA 95404) is holding a vinyl lover's dream day, featuring The Last Record Store, and Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab.
Vinyl is Everywhere, even in Port Townsend!
How do you know that the vinyl revival is universal? When Port Townsend, WA, a little arts community with under 9500 inhabitants that is situated NW of Seattle, on the Quimper Peninsula at the gateway to the larger, breathtakingly beautiful Olympic Peninsula, is having a record show of its ownThe Port Townsend Record Show is taking place Saturday, March 5, 11:00am5:00pm in the American Legion Hall at 209 Monroe Street facing Port Townsend Bay.
Vinyl Lovers Rejoice
Stereophile 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."