Who's Your CE Hero?
If you work in the consumer electronics industry and would like to see your personal CE hero rewarded, the Consumer">http://www.ce.org">Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) would like to hear from you. The CEA announced last week that it is seeking nominations from its members, the press and other industry professionals for the 2002 class of inductees into the Consumer Electronics Hall of Fame.
Why Apple Acquiring Tidal Could Be Exactly What The World Needs
Apple is reportedly in exploratory talks to acquire Tidal. Though it's possible that nothing could come of this, and much of the online chatter surrounding this news is processed, regurgitated press releaseI'd like to contribute to the speculation by sharing my thoughts: I think it's exactly what the world needs. It would be an intelligent move on Apple's part that would simultaneously benefit listeners, musiciansand of course, boost the high-end audio industry.
Why We Love the Internet
IRebuildMarantz.com: Robert D. Bowdish sent us an email recently, pointing us to his http://www.irebuildmarantz.com/"> IRebuildMarants.com website, which he describes as "my semi-DYI site that's for the purpose of keeping great vintage audio gear alive."
Will a Home Server Be Under Your Christmas Tree?
At CES 2007, Bill Gates announced that Microsoft was developing a Windows®">http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/winfamily/windowshomeserver">…; Home Server, saying, "As computers and digital media become more and more central to family life, we need better ways to organize, share, and protect digital content and information at home. Windows Home Server makes it easy for families to save, protect and access digital memories and experiences, so they can focus on using technology to organize their day-to-day lives, explore their interests, and share their memories with the people they care about."
Will High-End Audio Be Only Mouseclicks Away?
Last week, Intel">http://www.intel.com">Intel Corporation announced its membership in the DVD WG-4 Audio Working Group, and its support for the proposed DVD audio specification, as the next steps in bringing next-generation consumer-quality audio to the PC platform.
Will Porn Decide the Latest Format War?
For far longer than I've been attending the January Consumer Electronics Show (CES), it has overlapped with the AVN Adult Entertainment Expo. Indeed, in the old days when the high-end portion of CES was housed in the Sahara hotel and casino, the two shows shared the same venue, leading to one of the more bizarre culture collisions known to modern man (one was certainly never in doubt as to who was there for which show).
Will Watermarking Really Work?
Mastering engineer Denny Purcell let out a long sigh. "Does anyone in this room really believe that any of this is going to do any good?" he asked. Of the eight or nine people—each with decades of experience in the music and/or audio industries—hanging out at Georgetown Masters Studios in Nashville for SDMI's Phase II listening tests, no one said "Yes." The consensus: The watermarking issue will probably be dead and forgotten within a year.
William Zane Johnson 19262011
We were saddened to hear of the passing, on December 10,of Audio Research founder William "Bill" Zane Johnson. Bill, who founded Audio Research in 1970 and became its Chairman Emeritus in 2008, is survived by his wife Nancy (left in photo) and family. We are preparing a tribute to Bill, to be published in the March 2012 issue of Stereophile, but meanwhile, we are reprinting here an interview Paul Messenger and I conducted with Bill that was originally published in the June 1983 issue of Hi-Fi News. (My thanks to HFN editor Paul Miller for permission. Stereophile's 1994 interview with Bill can be found here.)John Atkinson
Willie Nelson Speeds Up to Internet Time
We've all heard about "Internet time"---that fraction of the "normal" time interval for a similar activity to occur on the Internet. As if to put an exclamation point on the concept of Internet time, the National">http://www.narm.com">National Association of Recording Merchandisers (NARM) plans to make audio history March 10 at the 1999 NARM Convention coming up in Las Vegas.
Willie Nelson's Night and Day slated for DVD-Audio release October 31
It may still be a trickle, but at least a little music relief has reached the parched throats of audiophiles awaiting the arrival of DVD-Audio discs. Last week saw the announcementhttp://www.stereophile.com/news/10867/">announcement; that Aaron Neville's latest CD release will also hit stores as a multichannel DVD-A on Immergent Records on October 24. This week sees the announcement that another recording legend, Willie Nelson, will soon take the plunge.