The California Audio Show Starts Friday
The California Audio Show returns to the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Burlingame August 35. Produced by Constantine Soo's dagogo.com, and sponsored by Stereophile, The Absolute Sound, Wired.com, Audiophilevoice.com, AVshowrooms.com, and San Francisco Classical Voice (SFCV.org), Northern California's only show aimed at audiophile consumers promises 36 exhibit rooms stocked with equipment from at least 100 manufacturers.
The California Audio Show Starts Friday
The sixth annual California Audio Show kicks off this Friday, August 14, 10am, at the Westin Hotel in Millbrae. In a lovely location facing the water and within walking distance of several restaurants, audiophiles and the equally curious will enjoy sound in 29 active exhibit rooms, a "Headmasters" room with 7 exhibits, and 5 more exhibits in the hallway...
The Canadians Are Coming
French-speaking Canada's premier A/V, home theater, and new technologies publication, Quebec">http://www.quebecaudio.com">Quebec Audio-Video has once again offered its readers an opportunity to attend Home">http://www.homeentertainment-expo.com/">Home Entertainment 2002 in New York City for free! Franco Moggia, editor of Quebec Audio-Video, says, "After the tragic events of September 11, we had to support our American friends and colleagues by repeating last year's contest."
The Chicago AXPONA Starts Friday
111 seems to be the magic number for AXPONA 2016, aka Audio Expo of North America. Taking place April 1517 in the Westin O'Hare in Rosemont, IL (near Chicago's O'Hare airport), AXPONA promises 111 exhibit rooms, including 29 larger meeting spaces which sometimes house multiple systems. AXPONA will also host 111 booths and table displays, with a good 50 of those located in the Ear Gear Expo. All told, the show will feature products from 375 brands, most of which will sing away every day starting at the mercifully civilized hour of 10am.
The Chicago Symphony Orchestra's Digital Adventures
The Chicago Symphony Orchestra has taken its first giant steps into the digital domain. Hard on the heels of launching the orchestra's new in-house CD label, CSO Resound, it has announced a partnership with digital distributor IODA that will make CSO Resound recordings available for download via iTunes, Yahoo! Music, Rhapsody, Napster, Verizon, Sprint, and other online retailers.
The Collect-i-Bowl Record Show
Sunday, February 27, 12-6pm: Brooklyn Bowl (61 Wythe Avenue, Williamsburg) will host the Collect-i-Bowl Record Show.
The Copy Wars Continue
Like the proverbial camel who took over the tent after getting just his nose in, it appears that once copy protection is given an inch, it will inevitably try to get in all the way. At least that's how it appears with an increasing variety of CD copy protection systems now currently being tested en masse by the major record labels. Latest to announce a new "evaluation agreement" is BMG Entertainment, which will use and evaluate SunnComm's MediaCloQ "digital content cloaking technology", first put to the test earlier in the year on a Charley Pride CD (see">http://www.stereophile.com/news/11004/">see previous).
The Corporate Music Threat
Start policing your employees' use of file sharing networks or we sue you. That was the threat from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) to Fortune 1000 companies last week as the organizations announced the publication and distribution of a guide "to assist US companies in preventing copyright abuse on their computers and networks."
The Dawn of Hardware Hacking?
Savvy music fans willing to ignore the built-in copying restrictions on consumer-targeted CD recorders have always had their computer-based CD and DVD recorders and hard drives to play with, especially when it comes to manipulating MP3 files. Maybe not for much longer. A new content-protection approach is attempting to tighten the digital noose around the necks of PC users who have spent the last few years virtually unencumbered when it comes to—as Apple so succinctly puts">http://www.apple.com/hardware/ads/ripmixburn.html">puts it—rip, mix, burn.
The Day the Music Died
See update at end of article. iTunes continues to grow and Napster has been reborn, but these last few months have been a bumpy ride for MP3.comhttp://MP3.com">MP3.com;. The music site, known for its large online music library featuring unsigned independent artists, was purchased on December 14 by San Francisco-based CNEThttp://www.CNET.com">CNET;.