BAASnotes.com – Bay Area Audiophile Society

Keeping up with audiophile happenings

Daily Audiophile (link) features a very nice set of blog and audio-website links. (The site was down for months, but is now back – better than ever.)

A similar, if less structured, site is High End Matters (link).

So these two join Stereophile, Absolute Sound, and the various blogs and forums as places to go to keep up with our crazy hobby passion obsession.

Where do you go for music and audio info? Add your sources of news to the Comments!

Brian Eno on Music and Whale Blubber

Today’s Guardian has a very interesting interview with Brian Eno.

The far-ranging discussion presents some novel views on music and its relation to our commercial and cultural worlds.

Thanks, Aaron, for pointing this one out!

Will New FTC Rules Improve Audiophile Product Reviews?

As reported in today’s New York Times (here), the FTC is moving quickly to tighten disclosure laws for bloggers (or other website authors) doing product reviews.

In short, if the reviewer has any financial relationship to the vendor – including receiving free samples – it must be disclosed. One would assume that advertising deals would also fall under the ruling.

This is good news for most consumers, as abuse is rampant in some areas (see article). But what about audiophiles? Will they benefit?

I believe so. Transparency is a cornerstone of journalism, and audio buyers should be made aware of any biases of reviewers.

On the other hand, as the new rule may slow down the volume of review samples – and no publisher that I am aware of has the capital to buy samples of high-end gear in any volume.

Time will tell…

[This article represents the opinions of its author - Bob Walters - and not necessarily those of BAAS or its membership.]

A Dozen Opinions on Computer Audio

Dave Clark at Positive Feedback recently interviewed 12 experts, asking 10 questions on the trends in digital playback.

The result is a valuable compendium of info on topics such as:

• USB or Firewire
• Jitter
• “Pro” gear vs “Audiophile” gear
• And much more….

If you are thinking about computer or ‘music server’ sources, then this is highly recommended reading.

Click here to read….

by bob walters

Tags: Audiophile, baas, computer audio, digital audio

Music Industry: Trading Analog Dollars for Digital Cents

As reported in today’s NY Times, a major record label – Atlantic Records – now makes more money from digital downloads than CD or record sales.

Big milestone. The labels had better get used to it. This is the future, and it’s happening now.

The article goes on to document how the labels plan to make up for the lost margins on (cheap) download sales. Excuse me, how about the artists? Well, the internet has begun to set them free.

This’ll be fascinating to watch over the next few years. It’s a bigger fundamental shift than the last one – LP to CD.

Bob Walters