Audio News for January 23, 2006

Another Ethernet Alliance – Not to be confused with previous alliances, the new Ethernet Alliance seeks to promote and develop their technology way beyond traditional computer networking. They will promote all existing and emerging 802 Ethernet standards – including 10Gig Ethernet over unshielded twisted pair cabling (debuting later this year) and the next generation of Ethernet, which hopes to achieve speeds of up to 100Gbit/s. Carrier are exploring Ethernet as a WAN technology and more home electronics manufacturers are starting to build wired and wireless technology into DVD players, cable TV boxes and even home appliances. Use of Ethernet as a high-speed interconnect in PCs and telecom gear is also emerging. CEA (Consumer Electronics Association) spokesman Jim Barry said the buzzword for the recent CES was “content everywhere;” but he believes the words should be more like “Look Out, iPod!” He observed that handheld devices have become “electronic Swiss Army knives” – combining a cell phone, music player, GPS locator, camera, camcorder and personal assistant all in one device.

Classic Records’ Big LP Reissue – At CES Classic Records announced a massive LP reissue program for the coming year, showing the continuing and new interest in the supposedly dead format. It includes immediate release of the Diana Krall catalog on Verve, The Jimi Hendrix Collection “Voodoo Child,” John Lee Hooker’s “The Healer,” and a huge series of mono jazz LP reissues from Blue Note – many of them 10-inchers! Later in the year 26 titles from the acclaimed early Everest label – recorded originally on 35mm magnetic film – will be released, plus two titles from Bernie Grundman’s Straight Ahead Records. All of these releases will be 200 gram pressings, a further enhancement of the 180 gram thickness of most previous audiophile repressings, and the Grundman discs will also be made available as DualDiscs.

Ambitious Music Commission Program – The Magnum Opus project originated in 2002, the brainchild of Silicon Valley venture capitalist Kathryn Gould, who was dissatisfied with the new music she was hearing – or not hearing – at the symphony.  Magnum Opus stands out from other commissioning projects in several ways: It commissions an entire body of work by many composers, rather than just one or two pieces which are performed once publicly and then promptly forgotten. This season three different San Francisco-area symphonies will perform nine newly-commissioned orchestral works by these noted composers: Ingram Marshal, Osvaldo Golijov, Kenji Bunch, Roberto Sierra, Kevin Puts, Pierre Jalbert, Peteris Vasks, David Carlson and Behzad Ranjbaran. The orchestras are the Marin Symphony, Santa Rosa Symphony and Oakland East Bay Symphony.