Audio News for June 23, 2007

Major Media Conglomerates’ Effort to Ban All DVD Copying – A proposed amendment to the current copy protection license concerning DVDs is currently being considered by the Content Protection Advisory Council (CPAC) of the DVD Copy Control Association (DVD CCA). The amendment – formally called the “Unknown Specification Amendment – is just a paragraph long, and would completely ban all DVD copying, including computer backups, whether for fair use or not. It would also prevent DVD players from playing without a DVD disk being present in the drive. (In other words, home video servers and DVRs would be outlawed because they record onto an internal hard drive.)  The amendment was proposed by executives from Warner Bros., Walt Disney, Intel, Hewlett-Packard, Toshiba and Pioneer.

Michael Malcolm, CEO of Kaleidescape – who make a DVD jukebox – made the amendment public because he alleges it was designed to put his company out of business. The DVD CCA has twice before tried to add such copying provisions to its licensing agreement, and both times they were defeated. Mainstream software firms are effectively prevented from copying or backing up DVD movies, but some independent developers offer utilities to “rip” DVD movies from commercial discs. In a previous legal ruling settling a dispute between Kaleidescape and the DVD CCA, it was found the company has met its obligations to the CCA, but the issue of fair use was not addressed.

Founder of Delos Records Dies – Amelia S. Haygood, President and founder of the pioneering classical label Delos passed away in March at age 87. During the label’s 34-year history she had maintained high artistic excellence, innovative presentation, and the integration of new technology – including some of the first Soundstream digital recordings and SACDs.  The label’s Director of Recording, John Eargle, received a Grammy for Sound Engineering in 2001.  Some of the most honored names in classical music recorded for Delos.

Upcoming AES Conference and Convention Themes – The 31st Conference of the Audio Engineering Society takes place in London June 26 – 27.  Titled “New Directions in High Resolution Audio,” it focuses on the promotion and delivery of hi-res audio and the challenges of maintaining it in an ever-changing marketplace. The 13th Regional Convention takes place in Tokyo July 19-21. It’s theme is “Divergences of Audio Technology in Our Life.”  It will discuss the future directions of the audio technology which was developed around music and the film industry and which has now spread to the entertainment industry. From August 19-21, the first Latin American Conference of the AES will be held in Buenos Aires, Argentina.  The theme is Multichannel Audio, and it takes into consideration the tremendous growth of surround sound in the entertainment industry as well as in everyday life.  More information at www.aes.org