New Format Launched: DVCD+ – A division of Amergence Group which focuses on the development and marketing of optical media enhancement technology has developed a proprietary technology combining the best features of DVDs and audio CDs. DVCD+ discs are compatible for playback on any DVD player, but they can include music, photos, videos, video games and other digital content that can be exported to any approved player device such as personal computers and cell phones. Users can convert music from DVD soundtracks to audio CDs to enjoy in their cars or on portable players. They can also share selected audio tracks or videos with friends for a limited time. Multiple language support can be provided on a single DVD, and embedded coupons can be printed at home to redeem at real-world stores. Studios and record labels will be able to reduce production costs by not needing to include a separate bonus CD in their increasingly popular DVD + CD packages. DVCD+ is the sensible solution to the ill-fated glued-together DualDisc format – which refused to play on and even jammed many players.
Boston Symphony Beginning Hi-Def Downloads – The Boston Symphony Orchestra’s extensive website at www.bso.org is the largest and most-visited orchestra website in the country, and beginning last week they are offering standard MP3 format and WMA lossless stereo downloads. This move anticipates the release in February of four new recordings by James Levine and the BSO, including Ravel’s Daphnis and Chloe. The recordings were made during live performances by Maestro Levine and the BSO at Symphony Hall. The download service also offers historic BSO, Pops, Chamber Players, and Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra recordings. The Symphony Hall Centennial Celebration Box Set – live broadcasts of 48 works dating from 1943 to 2000 – will also be available for download.
The BSO will soon be the first orchestra to offer downloads in HD Surround, using multichannel audio to enrich listeners’ experience in ways impossible with standard MP3 format downloads. MP3 stereo and mono files at 320 kbps are $8.99 per album and WMA Lossless files are $12.99. The site hopes soon to offer five-channel WMA lossless HD files of select recordings. Music may be purchased as individual tracks, full albums, or complete multi-movement works. The cost of complete works is based on the number and duration of movements. The BSO website also offers fan information and interactive new media, including “Classical Companion,” and Concert Preview Podcasts.
HDGiants and moodSeer Partner on Music Server Installs – One of the distributors of hi-res audio entertainment, HDGiants, and a leading make of high-end music servers, moodSeer, have teamed up to provide custom installers a music server pre-loaded with hi-res content from MusicGiants so that dealers can demonstrate the server line with an exceptional music collection. HDGiants offers material from all the major music labels in either WMA 44.1K/16-bit lossless format (the same as standard CDs) or, with selected albums, in WMA 88.1K or 96K/24-bit lossless HD format. (They incorrectly refer to the former as “HD” and the latter as “Super HD,” although of course only sampling rates above CD’s 44.1K can be called HD.) The downloads are stereo only and for PCs only.
