Audio News for January 8, 2013

by | Jan 8, 2013 | Audio News

Print a Kiddie LP Using a 3D Printer – A new 3D printing process allows users to print a very basic phonograph record that probably is most suitable for a toy kiddie phono, but perhaps will eventually be developed by somebody into printing audio-quality LPs. You can learn how to do it on the web site called Instructables.  It tells how to transform a digital audio file into an LP record using a new 3D printer. The current output is only about a quarter of a typical MP3 file, and no better than 6-bit resolution, so don’t expect high fidelity.

New European Copyright Laws – If the 27 countries of the European Union all ratify changes to EU copyright laws this November, a new line in the sand will be drawn as far as recording copyrights. The line will be January 1, 1963. Commercial recordings originally published prior to that date will be automatically in the public domain and available to all. Currently and up to now copyright for recordings in Europe has lasted for 50 years from publication. So the only two Beatles tunes issued in 1962 are now in public domain. Matters become more complicated for live concert recordings for broadcast and not issued on commercial discs. Small labels who want to issue this material must contact everyone who played on it, or their estates, to negotiate a license fee—a herculean job. The British press refers to the new rules as “Cliff’s Law,” because singer Cliff Richard campaigned for it on behalf of the British music industry.

CES and T.H.E. Shows in Las Vegas – The massive Consumer Electronics Show opens today in Las Vegas, along with the T.H.E. (The Home Entertainment Show) competitor nearby. The latter is at the Flamingo Hotel for its 15th year, with over 125 exhibitors, half of which are there for the first time. Companies showing will include KEF, Parasound, Magnepan, Harbeth and AudioQuest.

Brian Cheney of VMPS Dies – Iconoclastic speaker designer and maker Brian Cheney passed away last month in the San Francisco Bay Area and VMPS is permanently closed. His large high quality speakers were refined and reinvented regularly in a continuous pursuit to improve his products in spite of little magazine or dealer attention. They won the Best in Show Award at CES in 2002.

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