HD Radio Too Quiet For The Washington Post

If a tech reporter from The Washington Post finds it too difficult to understand when and what is suppoed to be on HD2 feeds of his local stations, and if the stations themselves barely bother to publish information on what they are making available, what hope does the average listener have? And, just how is anyone ever supposed to start salivating over HD Radio in the U.S.?

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Digital AM Radio Hits Pacific Rim

A new HD Radio AM station has gone online, something that’s becoming a regular occurance in the U.S. The catch is, this time the station is in Surabaya, Indonesia.

“Broadcast Electronics said the use of a new HD Radio system in Surabaya, Indonesia, marks the return of private AM radio to that nation.

The medium-wave system on 1062 kHz was installed on Radio Sangkakala in April, some 15 years after private AM stations in Indonesia migrated to FM, virtually abandoning the medium-wave band.”

This marks the first known AM HD Radio station in Asia.

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Apple Lossless format coming to iTMS?

A new version of Apple Computer’s iTunes Producer software suggest that the company may begin to offer tracks through its iTunes Music Store that are encoded in its higher-quality lossless compression format.
[snip] A new version of Apple Computer’s iTunes Producer software suggest that the company may begin to offer tracks through its iTunes Music Store that are encoded in its higher-quality lossless compression format.

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Many people have been waiting for this. However, the article notes that the ability for record companies to upload lossless file formats does not necessarily mean customers will be able to buy this format. DRM is not currently part of the ALC format.

GarageBand changing the face of music creation

The success of GarageBand is causing outher music hardware and software makers to take note, with many producers of high-end products broadening their reach to include amateur musicians.

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HD Radio: Fun with Math

Now, these numbers are very, very rough. But they’re close enough to make a point crystal clear. So my question, in all candor, is this: What’s the revenue model here? I’m not being critical. I really want to know.

For satellite radio, a national service under one big roof with subscription support, I get it. But explain to me the model for HD Radio, please.

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Sonic Studio :: nexStage

Sonic Studio have released a line of products for SACD production.

• AFC is a Windows application providing “fully adjustable and bidirectional PCM to DSD and DSD to PCM conversion” US$4,395.00.

• DSDeliver for AudioSuite is a Mac/Windows Pro Tools plug-in which creates DSD files from Pro Tools PCM audio for SACD production. US$495.00
• SACD Creator is an easy, “one-button” SACD premastering solution that converts DSD content into a complete SACD cutting master, ready for replication. US$4,995

This pdf gives an overview of the software line.

A Ring Tone Meant to Fall on Deaf Ears

For classrooms where cellphone use is forbidden, students have found a ring tone that many adults cannot hear.

“The cellphone ring tone [... is] the offshoot of an invention called the Mosquito, developed last year by a Welsh security company to annoy teenagers and gratify adults, not the other way around.

It was marketed as an ultrasonic teenager repellent, an ear-splitting 17-kilohertz buzzer designed to help shopkeepers disperse young people loitering in front of their stores while leaving adults unaffected.”

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HE 2006: Sony Prepares for Blu-Ray Disc Launch

[snip] Another interesting question that the Blu-Ray launch raises is whether Sony thinks that Super Audio CD (SA-CD) and Direct Stream Digital (DSD) have a future. At the show, Sony officials noted that the audio output on their new STR DG-1000 receiver is actually marked not “CD” but rather “SA-CD/CD” as one clue to their thinking along with their recent enhancement to the SACD mastering format. I also heard once again that the Super Audio CD playback feature as well as Blu-Ray Disc playback both continue to be part of the feature package for the upcoming Sony Playstation 3 product due out this November. And I was told that SACD playback was coming to a future edition of the Blu-Ray hardware platform. So this will be an interesting area to watch.

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M-Audio Appeals to the Masses with Session

Hoping to appeal to the same demographic enthralled with Apple’s entry-level (but Mac-only) music production applications GarageBand, Avid Technology today announced that its M-Audio business unit will being shipping a new consumer-level, entry level music production application called Session with its Fast Track USB audio interface, and will soon bundle the program with other M-Audio consumer products. Sessions will enable budding musicians, students, and music enthusiasts to get their feet wet…

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Onkyo Debuts Audiophile Music System

Onkyo has broken the mold and introduced a two-channel CD player and amplifier dedicated to the audiphile community. The DX-7555 CD player features a precision, adjustable click circuit with a tolerance of just +/- 1.5 ppm (most tolerance settings are 50ppm) which the company says produces a remarkably low jitter and high-fidelity performance. Users can manually adjust the clock frequency for a degree of sonic imaging. Other features in the DX-7555 CD player include a Wolfson MicroElectronics DAC circuit with user-selectable profiles for either “sharp” (flat up to 20 kHz) or “slow” (gradual) high frequency rolloff, to suit differing source material and user preferences.

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