 |
The Week in
Review: April 28 - May 4, 2003
Last week's features at
3DsoundSurge
Last week's sound news
Drivers and bugs
New
games, demos, patches and bugs
Star Trek Elite Force II Demo
A demo of Star Trek Elite Force II has been released. You can grab it from 3D Gamers.
Not sure if it supports 3D sound.
- Unreal II Demo
A demo for the 3D sound and EAX Advanced HD supporting Unreal II: The Awakening has been
released. You can grab it
from 3D Gamers.
- NOLF 2 MP Demo
A new version (1.3) of No One Lives Forever 2: A Spy in H.A.R.M.'s Way multiplayer demo
has been released. You can grab it from 3D Gamers.
- America's Army: Operations Patch
A new patch (v1.70) for America's Army: Operations has been released. You can grab it from 3D Gamers
Reviews
of soundcards, speakers, headphones and MP3 players.
- Sony MZ-E10 MiniDisc Walkman
HardwareZone has posted a mixed but still overall very positive (4.5/5) review
of the Sony MZ-E10 MiniDisc Walkman. At just 9.9mm thick and weighing only 55g with a
built-in battery the small size is one of the first things that will strike you about this
unit but there's of course more to check out in the full review.
Other sound news
- New Wolfson DAC with PC Interface
A stereo audio DAC that brings high performance audio to the PC motherboard has been
introduced by Wolfson Microelectronics. PCI sound cards, Net connected Hi-fi systems and
HDD based media servers can benefit from the Wolfson WM9709's Intel specified AC-Link
architecture. Initially developed for a games platform,
Wolfson's WM9709 is, according to the announcement, the world's first DAC that addresses
emerging consumer audio applications using PC technology. PCs typically use the AC'97
standard but have not previously demanded the highest performance audio whereas consumer
audio products generally use higher performance DACs with an I(2)S type interface. WM9709
combines a high-performance 20-bit stereo DAC with an AC'97 control and data interface,
commonly used on most motherboards. For some additional details as well as likes to more
information you can check out the full press release.
- Cirrus Logic Reports Fiscal Q4
Cirrus Logic has announced financial results for its fiscal fourth quarter and fiscal year
2003, ended March 29, 2003. The company reported fourth quarter revenue of $52.1 million,
down 14 percent from the $60.5 million reported in the third quarter. Fourth quarter gross
margin was 51 percent, unchanged from the third quarter. Fourth quarter combined research
and development and selling, general and administrative expenses were $34.8 million, a 13
percent reduction over the prior quarter on a comparable basis. In the fourth quarter, the
company took a non-cash charge of $136.2 million related to the write-off of goodwill in
accordance with SFAS 142 and to the impairment of intangible assets associated primarily
with the previously announced closing of our wireless product line. Including this
non-cash charge, the fourth quarter net loss was $152.8 million, compared with $12.2
million in the third quarter; net loss per share was $1.82, compared with a net loss per
share of $0.15 in the prior quarter. Total cash at the end of the fourth quarter was $123
million, compared with $125 million at the end of the third quarter. You can find more details in
the full press release.
- Creative Introduces Three New Speaker Systems To
Match The Apple iPOD
Creative has introduced two new ultra-sharp white speaker systems designed to look and
sound great with the Apple® iPod™ MP3 players. To transform your Apple iPod into a
high-quality home system, hook it up to the ultra-sleek, beautiful Creative I-Trigue™
2.1 I3350 speaker system. The lightweight, compact yet high-quality TravelSound™ I300
portable speakers fit easily in a coat pocket, backpack or briefcase, so they're ideal for
listening to the iPod on the go. Both the I-Trigue 2.1 I3350 and the TravelSound I300 are
slated for shipment next month. A third speaker system with a cool, sexy new look that
also matches the design of the Apple iPod is slated for availability in three months. More product information about this higher-powered Creative I-Trigue speaker
system will be included in a separate announcement. For details on the I-Trigue 2.1 I3350
and the TravelSound I300, both of which are priced at US$99.99, you can check out the full
press release.
- Creative Introduces the Highest Capacity NOMAD
Jukebox Zen Ever
Creative (Nasdaq: CREAF), a worldwide leader in digital entertainment products for PC
users, today announced the new NOMAD® Jukebox Zen portable audio player with 60GB --
twice the storage capacity of the Apple® iPod(TM) 30GB model yet priced at $100 less.
With the amazing capacity to store 16,000 songs, the NOMAD Jukebox Zen with 60GB fits
easily in a pocket and can carry a huge library of music anywhere with generous disk space
remaining for data storage. The NOMAD Jukebox Zen with 60GB will be available in May for
only US$399.99. You can find more details in the press release.
- Apple Launches the iTunes Music Store
Apple® has launched the iTunes® Music Store, an online music store that lets customers
quickly find, purchase and download the music they want for just 99 cents per song,
without subscription fees. The iTunes Music Store offers groundbreaking personal use
rights, including burning songs onto an unlimited number of CDs for personal use,
listening to songs on an unlimited number of iPods, playing songs on up to three
Macintosh® computers, and using songs in any application on the Mac®, including
iPhoto(TM), iMovie(TM) and iDVD(TM). The iTunes Music Store
features over 200,000 songs from music companies including BMG, EMI, Sony Music
Entertainment, Universal and Warner. Users can easily search the entire music store to
instantly locate any song by title, artist or album, or browse the entire collection of
songs by genre, artist and album. Users can listen to a free 30-second high-quality
preview of any song in the store, then purchase and download their favorite songs or
complete albums in pristine digital quality with just one click. You can find more details
in the full press release.
- Apple Introduces New iPods
Apple yesterday introduced its third generation iPods, which hold up to 7,500 songs in a
stunning enclosure that is lighter and thinner than two CDs. The new ultra-portable iPods
feature completely solid-state "no moving parts" navigation wheel and buttons;
an elegant new dock with audio out for fast and easy connection to your computer or
stereo; an "On-The-Go" playlist so users can build a playlist right on their
iPod(TM); a customizable main menu so users can promote the features they use most often
to their top level menu; and Apple's unique, patent pending Auto-Sync for automatically
syncing your computer's music library with iPod. The new ultra-portable iPods are
available in three models: a 10GB model for just $299 (US), a 15GB model for $399 (US) and
a 30GB model for $499 (US). The new 15GB and 30GB models come
with an elegant dock for effortless connecting to a Mac® or Windows PC. The dock provides
a stylish home base for the iPod and includes an audio line out for easy connection to a
home stereo or powered speakers, making it easy to sync, charge and go. iPod plays more
than eight hours of continuous music and recharges automatically whenever iPod is in the
dock or connected to a Mac or Windows PC.
For additional details you can check out the full
press release.
- Gracenote Signs Million Unit Deal With Samsung
Gracenote has announced that Samsung, Korea's largest consumer electronics manufacturer,
has signed an agreement to provide Gracenote CDDB music recognition in over a million mp3
digital music players. The service provides music fans with access to a huge library of
information on their favorite music, including album and track titles, as well as artists,
credits and genres. This agreement provides access to
Gracenote's industry standard music recognition service to global users of Samsung's new
YEPP line of mp3 portable players, including models 30S, NDU64S, NDU 64 and 20, as well as
upcoming models, will provide access to Gracenote CDDB® and will be available globally.
For some additional detail you can check out the full
press release.
- SONICblue Completes ReplayTV, Rio Sale to D&M
Bankrupt consumer electronics maker SONICblue Inc. has completed the sale of its ReplayTV
television recording service and Rio portable audio unit to Japan's D&M Holdings Inc.
D&M Holdings is best known for its Denon and Marantz audio and video component brands.
You can find more details in this Reuters story.
- XM Introduces First Satellite Radio Receiver For
PC
America's #1 satellite radio service, has announced the introduction of the first
satellite radio receiver designed for personal computers. The XM PC Receiver, or "XM
PCR," makes the tremendous breadth of XM's 101 digital music, entertainment and news
channels available to computer users at home, work, school and on the go without the need
for an Internet connection. At a suggested retail price of $69.95, XM PCR is available
exclusively from online retailer PC Connection. You can find more details in
the full press release.
- Panasonic Expands Its Celebrated DVD Recorder
Line
Building on its technological strengths in recordable DVD products, Panasonic introduces
two DVD recorders as part of a new worldwide "DIGA" DVD recorder line. Model DMR-E60, which features an SD Memory Card slot, a PCMCIA slot and a DV
input terminal, is an extremely versatile unit designed for easy interaction with digital
still cameras and digital camcorders. The DMR-E60 has a manufacturer's suggested retail
price (MSRP) of $599.95 and will be available at retail in May. The new DMR-E80 DVD/hard
disk recorder features 80GB of built-in memory. It provides up to 104 hours of recording
time on its hard drive and up to 6 hours on a removable 4.7 GB DVD-RAM disc (both in
Extended Play mode.) The DMR-E80 has an MSRP of $699.95 and will be available at retail in
July. You can find
more details in the full press release.
- The Grammar of Sound
Technology Review has posted an article titled The
Grammar of Sound". It features technology developed by a company called Fast-Talk
Communications that allows users to locate subject matter in an actual audio file simply
by phonetically spelling and entering any term they want to find.
For more news from last week check out our news archive.
Upcoming features at 3DsoundSurgeReviews that we are currently working on:
Updated Santa Cruz/Sonic Fury and GameTheaterXP reviews
Hercules Fortissimo II
Terratec DMX Xfire 1024
CMedia CM8738 Reference Review
Full Audigy Review
Full Philips MMS305 Review
There are several other hardware reviews in the pipeline
including, but not limited to the following:
Guillemot Maxi Sound MUSE
Terratec m3po
DigMedia MusicStore
Philips Seismic Edge
Lots of other stuff on the go in including several guides and major site revisions that we
will soon be releasing more details on.
As always if you have any ideas for products we should review or features we should do,
please let us know.
Previous "The week in
review".
|
|
All content, design and work is ©
2001 - 3D Sound Surge Please respect the copyrights of the articles and writers herein. All copyrights are enforced by 3DSS.