http://www.ecoustics.com/latest/links Latest links, updated every five minutes http://www.ecoustics.com/secrets/preamplifiers/689 Emotiva's new USP-1 stereo preamplifier, at $399, sets a new standard in performance in low priced components. Besides the standard full range outputs, this preamp offers a split output where you can adjust the low-pass frequency for one (which goes to your subwoofer) and the high-pass frequency for the other (which goes to your main power amplifier). This allows you to essentially bi-amplify, and with the low frequencies removed from the high-passed output, your power amplifier will run more efficiantly, not having to waste power on low frequencies that your speakers cannot reproduce. And, they toss in a phono stage that has both MC and MM settings. This may mark the beginning of phono stages being a standard part of stereo preamplifiers, rather than having to purchase an outboard phono stage. Long live LP's! Oh, there's a headphone jack too. Wed, 09 Sep 2009 04:00:00 -0400 http://www.ecoustics.com/dt/news/20708 A Swedish district court issued an order last Friday to ISP Black Internet, forcing it to drop file-sharing site Pirate Bay or face a fine of 500,000 kroner (around $30,000), all as a result of action brought against the site by the music industry.However, the wily Pirate Bay was back online quickly enough, using a new ISP. It issued a press release, echoing World War II defiance:"We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the baywords.org, we shall fight on the /. and on the digg, we shall fight in the courts; we shall never surrender."In a statement the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry praised the court’s rulRead | Permalink | Linking Blogs Wed, 26 Aug 2009 07:00:00 -0400 http://news.ecoustics.com/bbs/messages/10381/581252.html Mon, 20 Jul 2009 13:36:00 -0400 http://www.ecoustics.com/dt/news/20442 Back in April the music industry was awarded $3.6 million in damages when the four men behind file-sharing site Pirate Bay were found guilty of copyright violations. They each also received a year in jail.At the end of last month Pirate Bay was sold to Swedish software company Global Gaming Factory, which is currently in negotiations to take it legit. The price was $7.8 million, half in cash, half in company stock.The music industry, in the form of the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, sees this as a chance to collect its money, and is going to actively pursue it, acRead | Permalink | Linking Blogs Mon, 20 Jul 2009 11:00:00 -0400 http://www.ecoustics.com/secrets/preamplifiers/642 conrad-johnson (lower case c and j) was formed in the mid-seventies, shortly after I became seriously interested in audio gear. Im sure the two events were entirely unrelated. Their first product, a preamplifier, was immediately recognized as state of the art, and so their storied history began. I encourage you to visit their website for more details. There, they provide a long list of products that have been reviewed as "Best of Class", and even Best in the World. Thu, 09 Jul 2009 04:00:00 -0400 http://news.ecoustics.com/bbs/messages/10381/555923.html Wed, 04 Mar 2009 13:31:00 -0500 http://ecoustics-cnet.com.com/8301-13578_3-10172413-38.html?part=ecoustics-cnet The head of the International Federation of Phonographic Industries, the U.S. recording industry's international affiliate, tells a Stockholm courtroom that online piracy equals lost sales. Wed, 25 Feb 2009 21:52:00 -0500 http://www.ecoustics.com/dt/news/19287 Supporters of The Pirate Bay, which is currently on trial in Sweden for copyright issues, have hacked the site of the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI).On Wednesday they left a message on the Swedish site, demanding that the prosecutor “stop lying.” Yesterday they stepped things up with a denial of service attack on the international site that kept visitors out for hours, according to Vnunet.IFPI Alex Jacobs said:“It's not such a surprise that when we are engaged in civil action this kind of thing happens, but as our Swedish chairman said,Read | Permalink | Linking Blogs Fri, 20 Feb 2009 08:00:00 -0500 http://news.ecoustics.com/bbs/messages/10381/549879.html Mon, 09 Feb 2009 15:25:00 -0500 http://www.ecoustics.com/dt/news/18982 The music business is having problems. That’s hardly news. But a new report from the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) pulls no punches to show the current state of play.The organization, which represents 1,400 different companies across 72 countries, said music business revenues shrank by 7% in 2008. That’s in spite of an increase in 25% of legal downloading to a total of 1.8 billion tracks – indeed, downloading is now responsible for 25% of all music sales, and worth $3.8 billion.However, the IFPI estimates that the pirates won, hands down, as 40 billion music tracks were illegally shared during the year.John Kennedy,Read | Permalink | Linking Blogs Fri, 16 Jan 2009 10:00:00 -0500 http://news.ecoustics.com/bbs/messages/10381/541494.html Wed, 07 Jan 2009 17:41:00 -0500 http://news.ecoustics.com/bbs/messages/10381/541487.html Wed, 07 Jan 2009 17:38:00 -0500 http://news.ecoustics.com/bbs/messages/10381/528347.html Thu, 13 Nov 2008 15:46:00 -0500 http://www.ecoustics.com/dt/news/17457 Reports from China have said that Google will start a music search engine there, according to Vnunet. That will put it in direct competition with China’s biggest search company, Baidu, whose own music search has proved very popular with people looking for MP3s.When it began, Baidu’s music search proved popular internationally, but after record industry legal challenges, the company is blocking foreign access. Earlier this year the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry claimed China’s entire music business was a "blatant violation of copyright la Mon, 04 Aug 2008 10:00:00 -0400 http://www.ecoustics.com/dt/news/16899 Earlier in 2008 the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) filed a copyright lawsuit against Baidu, China’s biggest search engine, to the tune of $9 million.Now they’ve gone a step further, and along with the Music Copyright Society of China and the newly-minted China Audio-Video Copyright Association they’re trying to hit Baidu in the wallet by encouraging advertisers to boycott the site.The music industry reps claimed Baidu is the largest source of pirated music in China – quite a claim when they admit that about 80% of the total music revenue goes to pir Thu, 05 Jun 2008 09:00:00 -0400 http://www.ecoustics.com/tl/22315/ Finding the right size TV for your room is easier than you might think. But picking the right resolution is just as important. Written by Dennis Burger - Maybe it’s due to my job, maybe it’s fate, or maybe I’m just being punished for something my karma did in a last life—or however that works—but when my friends are in the market for a new TV, I’m always the first one they call. And the conversation invariably plays out the same way every time: “I just want to make sure I’m getting my money’s worth.” OK. “I want the best TV I can afford.” I love to hear it. “I don’t need anything as monstrous as yours, though!” Insert the sound of a phonograph needle being dragged quickly across vinyl right here and you’ll get the gist of how this scene will play when they film my life story. My 56-in. Samsung DLP TV, I explain, falls right in the middle of THX’s acceptable range for my room size and eight-foot seating distance. In fact, it could actually stand to be a teensy bit bigger or I could benefit from sitting just a smidge closer. “I don’t care,” I hear... Tue, 06 May 2008 12:49:48 -0400 http://www.ecoustics.com/dt/news/16207 We all know that Edison invented the phonograph, but did you know that he didn’t make the first sound recording? His breakthrough came in 1877, but last week the first known recording, a 10-second clip of a French folk song, “Au Clair De La Lune,” made in 1860, was played. It was made using a phonautograph, the recording being etched by a needle onto paper covered with soot. The needle was moved by a diaphragm that responded to sound, although the whole thing was cranked by hand. Curiously, the recording couldn’t be played back using the equipment – instead, US scientists had to create a virtual stylus. David Giovanni, the audio historian who fo Mon, 31 Mar 2008 07:00:00 -0400 http://ecoustics-cnet.com.com/News.com-Extra/8300-9373_3-55.html?tag=rsspr.6235809&part=ecoustics-cnet Also: A low-tech 2010 census? Read these stories and more at News.com Extra. Thu, 27 Mar 2008 14:11:00 -0400 http://www.ecoustics.com/secrets/phono-stages/311 Vinyl is back!!! If you get a new turntable, you will likely need a nice phono stage to connect the cartridge to your preamplifier. PS Audio has a good one. Read our review to see what we found. Note that this will work to make excellent music files for your portable music player. Sun, 23 Mar 2008 20:00:00 -0400 http://www.ecoustics.com/dt/news/15649 Baidu.com is China's leading Internet search engine—and that, by sheer numbers, makes it one of the most-used search engines on the planet. Now, by way of the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), music labels Warner Music Group, Sony BMG, and Universal Music Group are asking a court to order Baidu to remove all links from its index that point to music files being distributed in violation of copyright law. Moreover, the group is pursuing an earlier decision against Yahoo China on the same issues, and is taking similar action against Sohu and its associated company Sogou, Tue, 05 Feb 2008 12:40:00 -0500 http://www.ecoustics.com/video/n/1564239 The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), a trade body which represents the recording industry worldwide, says the gatekeepers of the Web must act if the industry is to beat piracy. Global digital music sales were estimated to be approximately $2.9 billion in 2007, a roughly 40 percent increase on 2006 but the IFPI says this was not enough to offset the sharp fall in CD sales, meaning the overall market is expected to be down around 10 percent for 2007. Reuters Technology Correspondent Matt Cowan reports. Thu, 24 Jan 2008 11:22:38 -0500 http://www.ecoustics.com/dt/news/15521 Despite a market for digital music that is finally picking up steam, global music sales suffered a significant overall decline in 2007. According to John Kennedy, chief executive of the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), sales took a 10 percent dive in 2007 as compared to 2006, a decline the industry still mainly blames on piracy.In a section of the IFPI’s Digital Music Report 2008, bluntly titled Copyright Theft is Choking the Growth of the Digital Music Business, the industry made it quite clear who they bla Thu, 24 Jan 2008 09:15:00 -0500 http://ecoustics-cnet.com.com/8301-10784_3-9837178-7.html?part=ecoustics-cnet The International Federation of Phonographic Industries said Thursday that Yahoo China lost its appeal in a piracy lawsuit the group filed against the company. Fri, 21 Dec 2007 10:47:00 -0500 http://www.ecoustics.com/dt/news/14587 You’ve heard of lawsuits to close illegal download sites. But in raids in England and Holland, police arrested the man believed to be behind the file-sharing site site OiNK and closed down its servers. Don’t be surprised if you haven’t heard of Oink. You needed an invitation to become one of its 180,000 members, and that invitation was only forthcoming if you had a “donation” of music to share – as well as money to pay for downloads. In fact, OiNK was one of the main sources of illegal pre-release music. According to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry ( Wed, 24 Oct 2007 07:00:00 -0400 http://www.ecoustics.com/dt/news/14510 In a gesture worthy of Captain Jack Sparrow, Internet pirates have fired a broadside against the establishment. The Swedish site Pirate Bay, which specializes in file sharing, evidently had had enough of the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), which owns the domain www.ifpi.org. So when someone offered them the domain ifpi.com, they happily took it up as a way of sowing confusion among the enemy. According to a Brokep, a Pirate Bay administrator, who spoke to TorrentFreak, the domain name was don Wed, 17 Oct 2007 10:00:00 -0400