CD Dark Ages
It's a brave new music world.
CD Fair Warning
Whether listeners like it or not, record labels, including major players like BMG and Arista Records, are now">http://www.stereophile.com/news/11734/">now making moves to rein in how their CDs are played and used. Unfettered CDs have been on the shelves for almost two decades, and some industry observers note that changing how they work at this late stage could be a recipe for trouble with consumers.
CD Lockdown
They have become the companies music fans around the world love to hate. But to their stockholders, the businesses developing CD-restriction technologies are a promising new technology niche for investing. SunnCommhttp://www.sunncomm.com">SunnComm; is one of these new companies dedicated to finding means to restrict the ways consumers can use compact discs, and last week they used their annual stockholder meeting as an opportunity to announce their latest copy-protection product.
CD MAP Payout
In late February, many California music fans discovered in their mail a one-page form letter from the state's attorney general, Bill Lockyer, announcing that he was "pleased to enclose payment for your claim in the settlement of the Compact Disc Minimum Advertised Price Antitrust Litigation." Attached to the bottom of the form letter was a tear-off check made out to the aggrieved music fan from "CD MAP Antitrust Litigation" in Faribault, MN.
CD Price Drop
What can save the music industry? We've asked the">http://www.stereophile.com/showvote.cgi?241">the question on this website a dozen times in several different ways and your responses are pretty much always the same: lower CD prices—closely followed by better music.
CD Price-Fixing Case Settled
A "victory for consumers" may be a windfall for class-action attorneys and 41 states participating in a price-fixing">http://www.stereophile.com/news/10818/">price-fixing case against the music industry. Some schools and public libraries may also benefit.
CD Prices Drop
While Universal's heavily publicized attempt at CD price reduction didn't pan out as hoped last year, there is evidence to suggest that CD prices may be slowly moving downward.
CD Radio Announces Agreement with Alpine Electronics
Last week, satellite-to-car radio broadcaster CD">http://www.cdradio.com/">CD Radio announced an agreement with mobile electronics manufacturer Alpine">http://www.alpine1.com/">Alpine Electronics for the design and development of satellite radio receivers. Under the terms of the agreement, Alpine says it will design and develop three-band (AM/FM/CD Radio) audio receivers for installation by car manufacturers. The company also plans to design and develop satellite radio receivers for sale directly to consumers in the electronics aftermarket.
CD Recorder's Dirty Little Secret
The dirty little secret about consumer CD recorders has recently been getting out: In order to record on one of the new "inexpensive" consumer CD machines from such manufacturers as Pioneer or Philips, you have to purchase special "consumer audio" CD-Rs that can cost three to four times as much as the same CD-R formatted for use with a professional or computer-based CD recorder.
CD Recorders Fastest-Growing Category in Audio
More than a million CD recorders have been sold in the last 21 months, making the category one of the most rapidly developing segments in the history of the consumer electronics industry. The news was delivered by Philipshttp://www.philips.com/">Philips; executives at the end of August at the IFA trade and consumer exhibition in Berlin, Germany.