iPod: Threat or Menace?
In an article published in The Wall Street Journal on March">http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB114117951081886103.html?mod=toda… 1, Ethan Smith suggested that consumer electronics companies need to recapture music lovers who have sacrificed audio quality in search of convenience by embracing portable devices such as the iPod.
iPods & Hearing Loss
Apple Computer, faced with research, complaints, and litigation claiming that the iPodhttp://www.stereophile.com/mediaservers/934">iPod; can cause hearing loss, issued a new software update on March 29 that limits the personal maximum volume level of the iPod Nano and iPod models with video-playback capabilities. The free download, available at www.apple.com/ipod/downloadhttp://www.apple.com/ipod/download">www.apple.com/ipod/download;, prevents the player from outputting its potentially damaging maximum volume of 115dB. Parents can also use the feature to set volume limits on their child's iPod, and lock settings with coded combinations.
Irving M. Fried: 1920–2005
Just look at the dates and you'll see a legacy that essentially spans the entire history of electrical music reproduction. That's fitting. In his career—or more properly, many careers—Irving M. ("Bud") Fried all but embodied that era.
Is Fair Use In Peril?
When we awoke on December 30, we found our in-boxes full of emails linking to The Washington Post's "Download">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/28/AR20071… Uproar: Record Industry Goes After Personal Use", which reported that the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) were charging that Jeffrey and Pamela Howell's transfer of 2000 legally purchased recordings to his computer as MP3 files represented "unauthorized copies" of copyrighted recordings.
Is High-Rez coming to Apple Music? Probably Not.
A recent post on Roon's forums drew my attention to an apparently new category at Apple Music, Apple's streaming service. The post pointed to an Apple Music page listing music curated by the ECM music label. After ECM "Playlists," "New and Noteworthy," and "Recent Releases" is a section labeled "High-Resolution Masters."
Is It Live Or Is It SACD?
Audiophiles will get a rare opportunity to discover the similarities and differences between SACD reproduction and the real thing at this year's Home">http://www.homeentertainment-expo.com">Home Entertainment 2003 show in San Francisco. Diversity">http://www.diversityrecords.net">Diversity Records, Ltd. has announced it will record two performances by its artists at HE2003 on June 7 (1–4:30pm).
Is It the Economy, Stupid?
We get letters department: Here at Stereophile, we talk to people in the high-end audio industry all the time, and we frequently get fascinating emails from movers and shakers within the industry. This week we received one that got us thinking about outsourcing manufacturing and how it could affect high-end consumers.
Is the Best Seat in the House Now in the Garage?
Audiophiles are just warming up to the debate on how (or why) they should set up multi-channel audio in the home (see previous">http://www.stereophile.com/news/10849/">previous story). But perhaps the listening room will ultimately take a back seat to a more obvious choice for a multi-channel environment: the automobile. Several multi-channel products are being announced for the autosound market, including a new Fujitsu DVD player with 5.1 audio.
Is the CD Dead?
On October 27, MarketWatch reportedhttp://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/story.aspx?siteid=mktw&guid=%7BBA…; that EMI Music's chairman and CEO, Alain Levy, told an audience, "The CD as it is right now is dead." Speaking at the London Business School, Levy said that 60% of consumers rip CDs into their home computers in order to listen to them on digital music players.
Is There a Future for Hi-Rez?
Is there a future for high-resolution recordings? Why do so many people fail to hear a difference between them and ordinary CDs? Why do some purportedly high-rez discs sound so bad? What obstacles does the audio industry face in trying to make high-rez a commercial success?