News

While recording the Encore CD for Stereophile, John Atkinson had to decide: "Should I add some artificial reverberation?" After much gnashing of teeth, he plowed ahead. Read about the process in "Encore,&quot">http://www.stereophile.com//features/129/">Encore," an in-depth look at the recording techniques, the artists, and the music.

The DVD">http://www.dvdforum.org/">DVD Forum announced July 28 that it will start verification services for products based on the DVD-Audio format (see previous">http://www.stereophile.com/news/10379/">previous article) at some of its authorized DVD Format Verification Laboratories starting September 1999. According to the Forum, format verification is conducted to establish the conformity of DVD products with DVD formats created by the DVD Forum, and allows manufacturers of successfully tested products to use DVD logos as proof of conformity.

Pauline Oliveros calls it "deep listening"—a way to pay attention to the sensual qualities of sound itself. Welcome to a world of music that defies categorization, that invites a listener to soak slowly into a deep and otherworldly zone. This music goes by many names: ambient, spacemusic, electronica, sacred music, tribal/trance. Alas, you'll often find it hiding in the New Age section. Unlike some fluffier New Age fare, good ambient albums can explore the deeper, more solitary spaces. At its best, ambient music can sensitize you to sound in unique ways. It can enlarge your listening space to cavernous dimensions, paint hallucinogenic sonic landscapes, summon primordial forces, or enshroud you in clouds of diffuse vapor.

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 "The">http://www.stereophile.com//features/127/">The Unseen Variable," Colloms digs to the bottom of this complicated matter.

Yet another major music company has joined the digital downloading stampede, in the wake of the Secure Digital Music Initiative's (SDMIhttp://www.sdmi.org/">SDMI;) recent progress toward formulating copyright standards. On July 19, Universal">http://www.unimusic.com/">Universal Music Group announced its intention to make its titles available for downloading to the coming generation of portable audio players. New devices from Diamond Multimedia, Toshiba, and Panasonic—all expected to hit the market by the winter holiday season—will play encrypted tunes from Universal and other big labels.

According to a report released last week by Cahners">http://www.cahnersinstat.com">Cahners In-Stat Group, a high-tech market research firm, the market for personal digital music players using audio compression technologies will experience a tremendous increase in growth through the next several years. Nearly $800 million in player sales are expected in 2003, spurred largely by widespread Internet access. The report also states that products in this segment will initially focus on downloading technologies like MP3, and over the next 12 months consumers should expect to see more features integrated into the players such as FM tuners, increased storage capacity, and security systems like Secure Digital Music Initiative (SDMIhttp://sdmi.org/">SDMI;).

John Atkinson's and my collective response was "Good grief!" on hearing that the UK's Haymarket">http://www.haymarketgroup.co.uk/">Haymarket Magazines had purchased Gramophone">http://www.gramophone.co.uk/">Gramophone Publications. Minds boggled at the very idea of the venerable old lady of classical-music criticism getting into bed with the much younger, altogether brasher, and unashamedly populist What Hi-Fi?, market leader among UK hi-fi mags. As Haymarket enigmatically put it, "With its emphasis on in-depth reviewing, Gramophone itself has great synergy with other titles in the Haymarket portfolio, such as What">http://www.whathifi.com/">What Hi-Fi? magazine."