June 29, 2005
Yamaha Aquires Stake in Nexo
This one was from out in left field. This week Yamaha and Nexo announced in a somewhat low key fashion that they were partnering in distribution and development with Yamaha aquiring a 10% stake in the French speaker manufacturer.
I may have some thoughts on this later...
Update... With the performance of Yamaha in the high end speaker enclousure market (or should I say lack thereof) this makes more sense. For the life of the company, Yamaha couldn't or didn't build any decent speaker enclousures or raw drivers. They've been all about consoles and electronics. To compete in the biz today, particularly against mega players like Harman/JBL Pro you need all the juice and synergy you can get. No doubt this gives Nexo some cash to put into the warchest and with the high development going more towards complex DSP (see Geo T) as well as advanced acoustic/mechanical designs this gives both companies a leg up as they operate in areas where they don't compete against each other. I suppose one question near term might be what happens to the Nexo US staff? Does David Solari finally ride off into the sunset?
Posted by Dave at 11:28 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
June 27, 2005
Supreme Court Rules In Favor of Big Entertainment
Earlier today the United States Supreme Court unanimously ruled in favor of Hollywood ruling that producers of software can be held liable for infringing uses of users of the software. The key to the ruling is that the companies producing the software must be marketing it for that specific purpose. The court largely dodged the issue of the technology itself focusing instead on the intent of the producers when it came to marketing the software. As a result MGM. et al v. Grokster will be sent back to a lower court to determine if Grokster and Streamcast did indeed induce copyright infringement.
When I first heard of the decision a few hours ago, I was ready to jump in full throttle and lambast the decision. First, though, I thought I might want to read the full decision before I formed an opinion. After a few readings, I haven't decided if it's exceptionally vague, well balanced and fair or both. I'm leaning toward both. It appears to raise more questions than it answers.
From the ruling...
"One infringes contributorily by intentionally inducing or encouraging direct infringement, and infringes vicariously by profiting from direct infringement while declining to exercise the right to stop or limit it."
That sounds pretty fair to me. Distribute something and promote it to break the law and you will be liable. The vague part is, I haven't found a standard for which "intentionally inducing or encouraging direct infringement" could be applied. It looks like potentially every new tool introduced could be litigated against in order to determine if the distribution was contributory.
Further adding to the already murky water.. (emphasis mine)
"On the record presented, respondents' unlawful objective is unmistakable. The classic instance of inducement is by advertisement or solicitation that broadcasts a message designed to stimulate others to commit violations. MGM argues persuasively that such a message is shown here. Three features of the evidence of intent are particularly notable. First, each of the respondents showed itself to be aiming to satisfy a known source of demand for copyright infringement, the market comprising former Napster users. Respondents' efforts to supply services to former Napster users indicate a principal, if not exclusive, intent to bring about infringement. Second, neither respondent attempted to develop filtering tools or other mechanisms to diminish the infringing activity using their software. While the Ninth Circuit treated that failure as irrelevant because respondents lacked an independent duty to monitor their users' activity, this evidence underscores their intentional facilitation of their users' infringement."
While Napster users were found to be infringing, the primary motivation of Napster users was to listen to music. Stating that marketing to Napster users in and of itself was an indication of contributory infringement is quite a jump. If Apple were to market iTunes to former Napster (or even Grokster) users would they too be liable even though Apple runs a legal service?
A second and potentially more scary point is that they seem to be saying that if you provide an otherwise legal service and a copyright holder has an issue with people using that service that it is up to the service provider to insure that the service is changed to put the onus of enforcement on an otherwise lawful provider. Let's say one gets a copy of a CD from a friend and rips it into iTunes. Is it then Apple's responsibility to make sure the software will filter or not play those products? I say this because there is no doubt a mountain of content loaded into iTunes or on iPods that was derived from file sharing. I'd suspect more than have been purchased from the iTunes Music Store.
Added on Edit: The first reads I did were from the sylabus of the decision. I since got a pdf of the entire ruling where there is a footnote that reads..
"Of course in the absence of other evidence of intent, a court would be unable to find contributory infringement liability merely based on the failure to take affirmative steps to prevent infringement, if the device otherwise was capable of substantial noninfringing uses."
That's somewhat comforting, though given the voracity of the plantiffs in pursuing these sorts of cases this could likely be more than a small bump in the road for those that wish to litigate such devices from existence regardless of any other applications.
What's happened here is that the market and the distribution paradigm have evolved and the content producers weren't able to exploit it like they have in similar transistions in the industry. For example, vinyl LP to cassette to CD in the music biz and video cassette to DVD in the movie biz. Instead of changing tactics and trying to drive new business models, content producers chose to litigate and force consumers into models they no longer wished to use.
"We will no longer have to compete with thieves in the night whose businesses are built on larceny," said Andrew Lack, chief executive for Sony BMG Music Entertainment.
Nope, you're left competing with the same thieves you've always been competing with. All the other labels...
Posted by Dave at 01:20 PM | TrackBack
June 13, 2005
AES Digital Audio Survey
Kevin Gross, Chair of the Audio Engineering Society Network Audio Standards Group has posted a survey. The group is looking for input regarding networked audio applications from real world users.
From the survey...
"Thank you for participating in this audio networking requirements survey. In your responses, we will be looking for trends and general sentiment with regards to use of networking technologies for audio.
This survey is being conducted by the Network Audio Systems technical committee of the Audio Engineering Society (AES). Please direct any questions, comments or elaboration to tc-nas-survey@aes.org.
The results of this survey will be presented at an audio networking workshop at the 119th AES convention in October 2005. Knowledgeable and experienced respondents representing disparate applications areas will be invited to participate in the workshop discussion of audio networking requirements."
It's good to see a working group take an active role but I have to question if the AES is still relevant when it comes to cutting edge audio issues. The exhibits at AES have already been eclipsed by other shows like ETS-LDI, Systems Integration-NSCA and Infocomm. Reports from Europe indicate that the turnout at AES Barcelona a couple of weeks ago was pretty dismal. The way the AES is structured presently makes it difficult for the standards and working groups to keep up with the natural forces of the market. They just can't respond as fast as the commercial market to changes in the market brought by technology or innovation from aggressive manufacturers. Many of these new manufacturers aren't supporting the organization as others have in the past. The standards are being developed part time by volunteers while the technology is being developed full time by engineers and marketers paid to get products to market and provide solutions. In route to that the standards process gets the short end of the stick. The irony is that some of the volunteers are the same engineers that are charged by their respective employers to build bigger, better and cheaper (or more profitable) solutions.
I suppose my question is, what can be done to the structure of the AES to make the organization more proactive and able to develop standards faster than the market can? As an industry we need a professional society of the stature of the AES.
What can we do to make sure the AES is still relevant in five years?
Posted by Dave at 04:43 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
June 12, 2005
Waters, Gilmour Reunite Pink Floyd for Live 8
Wow... I'd heard rumors that Pink Floyd might tour this year (didn't happen) but word from London is that for the first time in about 25 years Roger Waters will rejoin Pink Floyd for a performance at Live 8 this summer.
Could there be a reunion tour in the near future? If The Eagles and CSNY can do it Gilmour and Waters should be able to bury the hatchet. As long as it isn't in the other guy's head...
Posted by Dave at 09:29 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
Bright Light City
Well, it's now "official", I'm considered a part time resident of the State of Nevada. Got the phone number, mailing address and sights on a couple of places to live, save for chosing which lease to sign. For those that haven't heard, over the course of the next few months I'll be moving to Las Vegas. Why Vegas? Well, I couldn't book passage to the face of the sun.
Seattle has been great for the last 15 years. I've been a part of some pretty cool stuff, though I seem to have fished this pond dry, so to speak. I'm still getting local work though most of what I do these days is tour related. I could probably keep working up here and eventually retire and ride off into the sunset. I'm not getting any younger (fortunately) and in the next decade or so it's likely the tour gigs will get farther and fewer between as is normal with the older set, or as some call us, the "ancestors". I'm not quite ready to hang up my lanyard and will still tour in the meantime, but Vegas offers opportunities not available in other cities. It's quickly becoming (or already has depending on who one talks to) the entertainment technology capital of the country, if not the world.
I'd like to thank some people that have made my stay in Seattle an excellent experience. Thanks to the local crews and IA Local 15, particularly the Paramount, Benaroya, 5th Ave and Seattle Center crews, you guys (and gals) are tops. The members of WAPS and AES, particularly Mac Perkins and Dan Mortensen. Thanks to the Carlson show and shop crew particularly my good friend Allan Bagley. Most of all very special thanks to my dear friends, Mark Carlson and Jonathan Stoverud-Myers, the principals of Carlson Audio. We had some good times and some intense times and you guys should be proud of what you've done. It couldn't have happened to a nicer couple of guys.
Look forward to seeing you in Vegas. If you're already down there and want to meet, let me know. I should be settled in by early fall a few weeks after I return from the next leg. If you're on a tour that is swinging through town, let me know and I'll come by and say hi, eat your catering and take up space while you're trying to get your work done. I plan on writing about the move and the various happenings in Vegas as it relates to the pro audio/ entertainment technology biz. Lastly, if you're down there and need the services of a guy that's been around the block a time or three, let me know.
Posted by Dave at 12:46 PM | TrackBack
June 09, 2005
Old School PDA
Posted by Dave at 09:42 AM | TrackBack
June 08, 2005
Faux Paris
Posted by Dave at 07:09 PM | TrackBack
June 07, 2005
Infocomm Vegas
Don't know why I didn't mention this last week, but I'm off to Infocomm in a few hours. Exhibits are tomarrow (Weds) through Friday. I'll moblog (those vague fuzzy little pix I post here) anything I find exciting at the show and I'll have a real cam and DV with me just in case. Except for the online planner for the show, I don't see anything ground breaking but I don't know that Infocomm is that kind of show. The online planner is great, all shows should have one.
Though the real reason I'm going down followup some leads for my move down. I needed to go this month and the show seemed like a good way to kill two birds with one stone. I've got solid leads for housing and a potential home for the race team equipment. If you're around the show this week drop me a line and we can meet.
Posted by Dave at 03:55 PM | TrackBack
Does Apple to Intel Help Pro Audio Apps?
Unless you were living in a cave or sleeping off a bender, it was difficult to imagine missing the annoucement on Monday (and the rumors over the weekend) that Apple will switch to Intel processors over the next two years. This will make the third major switch for Apple, once prior in the switch in architecture from Moto 68k to PPC then from Mac OS 9 to OSX. Considering the gravity of the changes, they did pretty well during those transitions. I know most of y'all use Windows, and most sound reinforcement apps are Windows based but what exactly, if any impact will this have on pro audio, particularly sound reinforcement?
The recording guys will likely see more impact than we will. It's no secret that Apple and Digidesign have no love loss over the events of recent years. Apple would prefer you to use Logic and Digi would prefer Apple stayed the hell out of the recording software biz. Depending on how ProTools is coded, that could mean the difference between it being ported to Intel or being left to die. I'm sure guys with big investments in PT HD rigs are a bit nervous right now even though based on past experiences with Apple platform transitions Apple will continue to support the legacy gear for a few years. There is a translator in the form of something called "Rosetta" which demoed beautifly with PPC native versions of MS Mac Office and a fully loaded Photoshop. MS as well as Adobe are on board as well as Mathematcia developer Wolfram. The Wolfram porting explaination was remarkable, with a single developer changing only 20 lines of code (in a complex million line plus app) and was able to do the port in a few hours, including compiling time. Apps that are using the Apple dev tools and Cocoa APIs look to be a pretty easy port, though processor specfic code and Altivec routines will have to be replaced and those two techniques are used quite a bit in high performance real time apps. I'm sure Motu will port Performer because it's largely a vehicle for interface sales. The rub here is if Digidesign will bother to port Pro Tools, or leave it lay. Pro Tools on Mac is still a pretty big hunk of revenue to just bail out on. Particularly if they can port it fairly easily.
On the sound reinforcement side, it doesn't seem to be so bad for the simple fact there isn't that much of our sort of software that runs natively on a Mac. Most people either emulate it with VPC or get Wintel laptops and call it a day. Yes Virginia, Smaart Live has been running on OSX natively for a while now. I heard about it a while ago and it's been publically posted and dicusssed in other places. I'd reckon SIA will port it and the other live FFT programs will likely port as well. Spectra Foo seems like a no brainer as does MacFOH though I'm fairly certain both apps use code optimized for G4/G5 and Altivec so it may be a little more involved. Yamaha's Studio Manager control surface librarian/control program will most likely run as is using Rosetta as it appears to be a ported (poorly) version of the Windows counterpart with no special features.
I think the platform change could be a boon for SR pros using Macs (listening, ERC?) Most of the control apps for SR didn't work well in emulation mostly due to timing and resource issues. With the platform being native to the same processors as the Windows counterparts, SR users could benefit in one of two ways. Only one of which requires any action on the part of developers of SR apps. It's no secret that developers of apps for pro audio, particularly in the SR realm may not enjoy the resources of other larger established software companies. Some use contractors for some of it, some don't have enough developers and on thin margins already, are hesitant to hire more programmers. Many of them aren't familiar with the PPC archtecture and even if they are, probably don't have the time or budgets to do full Mac ports. Some of these apps will be ported, but even if they aren't there is still something that could run these Windows apps, natively with full functionality.
OS X has been running on Intel for about five years now, being developed concurently with the PPC version. At one time in the early builds ('97) of Rhapsody something called "Red Box" was able to run Windows software natively without having a copy of Windows. That's how WINE works, the Linux package that allows you to run native Windows apps on Linux (and other x86 *nix) boxes. You may have to copy over some application specific DLLs but I'd reckon that any of the more or less basic control apps that operate over USB or ethernet and perhaps converted serial (SB2, London, Audiocore, perhaps Hi Q net, various control programs from Ashly and tc among others) At this point, Apple has yet to confirm a Windows API translator (that's really what Red Box and WINE are) but it makes perfect sense. It's the perfect pitch for those occasions where there is a vertical app, like Hiretrack for example, where you could have the cool features of Mac OS, but still run those pesky Windows apps you need to get your job done.
I'd say that's a winning solution. Except of course for Microsoft.
Posted by Dave at 01:34 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
June 06, 2005
Hi Ho Hi Ho, Back to Europe I go
I'll be back on that side of the world in a few weeks. Drop me a line if you wish to meet while I'm over there. Germany, Italy, some Spain and a bit of France and a few days in Holland. About six weeks total. No UK this time, unfortunately. I was looking forward to getting back to Nottingham. Mostly little festivals and concert halls. I'll be taking a DV cam again, though trying to shoot more people and less gear (and talk to people). We may do another couple of months at the end of the year including a big hunk of Eastern Europe. Since my "unretirement" in 2k3, this is the longest I've been (7 months) without leaving North America. I'm looking forward to it.
Now if I could just remember the key sequence for checking the voicemail on my local euro number I'd be set. Of course, the voicemail system prompts in Dutch...
Posted by Dave at 09:04 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
June 02, 2005
iPod Battery Class Action Suit Settled
If you have a first, second or third gen iPod you've likely experienced diminished battery capacity, right about the time the extended Apple Care warranty runs out. The iPods have been notorious for the shortcoming of the battery for a few years now. Sometime ago there was a class action suit filed against Apple representing iPod owners with the less than stellar batteries.
At first Apple was charging about US$200 to replace the batteries. After an uproar from die hard iPod fans (count me in in that bunch) they reduced the charge to US$100 for out of warranty iPods. This and other issues with Powerbook batteries forced Apple to craft a page with battery info. Today Apple announced a settlement where they did not admit to a problem, but agreed to replace the batteries free of charge or issue a small store credit or cash, depending on which generation iPod was purchased. The 3rd Gen iPods can get free batteries, 1st and 2nd Gen get cash or a small credit. Users that paid and got batteries under the previous program they'll give you back half of the dough.
There is a site dedicated to this at http://www.appleipodsettlement.com/ with the details of the offer/settlement.
That still doesn't fix what I now consider a design flaw in that the battery isn't user replacable in a US$300 plus portable music player. Mine has had issues for several months, recently down to playing less than an hour on a charge. Fortunatly I have a Belkin battery pack because even at five or six hours of charge, it's not enough for a full day of travel. Even worse for international when I'll spend nearly 20 hours traveling. I've been looking at alternatives, nothing really has the hardware/software integration of the iPod, even given the few flaws of the iPod. I haven't yet decided to what to do, get the battery fixed, or get the credit and replace the unit.
Now where the hell did I put that receipt?
Posted by Dave at 04:40 PM | Comments (4) | TrackBack