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The Week in
Review: May 29 - June 4, 2000
Last week's features at
3DsoundSurge
Skywell
Magic Sound Live Reviewed
In this review we take an in-depth look at the Magic Sound Live 5.1 sound card from
Skywell. This card is interesting thanks its 5.1 analog output and the bundling of WinDVD
for a SRP of 99 dollars. The Magic Sound Live uses Fortemedia’s FM801 chip which
features support for DS3D, A3D 1.0 and EAX 1.0 using QSound's Q3D 2.0 engine. It also
features QSound’s stereo expansion technology, QXpander and 2D-3D. The killer feature
as mentioned is of course the 5.1 speaker support which many have been waiting on to play
DVD movies using home audio 5.1 systems that are just Dolby Digital ready (that is they
don’t include a Dolby Digital decoder but have the inputs for one). As a bonus, with
the latest drivers the card also delivers 5.1 support for In this review we will take a
look at how the Magic Sound Live performs for playing music, games and DVD movies. While
we still have lots of detail for games and music, when it comes to movies we really beefed
up our usual testing in order to compare it to true hardware DD 5.1 decoders such as the
MidiLand ADS-2000 and VideoLogic DigiTheatre decoder, as well as the 4-speaker down-mixing
mode of the Sound Blaster Live and Vortex2. We also tested it with MidiLand's S4-7100 5.1
ready speaker system using games and DVDs and we even give some pointers on how this
interesting card might be best utilized. For all the details check out
the full review.
Last week's sound news
Drivers and bugs
- New Rio500 Firmware Upgrade
S3/Diamond has released a firmware update (2.11) to the Rio500 MP3 player. The file
date is almost 3 weeks old but I don't think we have mentioned it. New features are
Support for 64MB flash cards and finally audible support!
- The APS 2.0 drivers have been indefinitely
postponed
We usually don't cover soundcards that are only intended for music but considering that
the APS 2.0 drivers were supposed to be compatible with the Live and also feature support
for DS3D and EAX 2.0 this may be interest to some of you. For those that don't know, E-Mu
has talked about the APS 2.0 drivers for quite some time, including letting the public
know what features they would include. More than once, the release date has been pushed
back and now it looks like they will never be released! Here's the message you get if you
mail E-mu tech support asking about them according to a post in the newsgroup:
The development of Version 2.0 Drivers and Applications for the
APS that was unofficially announced on the newsgroup has been indefinitely postponed
Others have also received the following message:
E-MU / ENSONIQ would like to apologize for our unofficial
statements which were pre-mature regarding Version 2 drivers and applications. E-MU /
ENSONIQ will continue to work hard to bring quality products to you, our customers. In the
future we will exercise more caution with announcements we make to our customer base.
Sincerely,
Todd Shires
E-MU / ENSONIQ
If you check out the APS newsgroup on Creative Labs server you will
find out that people are not very pleased to hear this. It's probably the worst pr fiasco
I've ever heard about when it comes to soundcards. Aureal's delay of EAX drivers is a
runner-up in this category. In both cases the issue is not that the drivers they already
had were poor. Its the way they promised things within time frames that they were not even
close to keeping. Note that in the case of poor driver development, there are certainly
many other companies with track records that are much worse.
New games, demos, patches and bugs
- Vampire has gone gold
Vampire's Lead Programmer Rob Huebner has updated his .plan with
the following interesting bit:
Well, there's nothing more cliche than a .plan that says
"We're gold" but since the opportunity only comes along every couple years these
days, what the heck. Vampire: The Masquerade - Redemption US release is in duplication and
will show up at your local mall/retailer/warehouse store on June 7 or 8th!
We're busily working on a playable demo and also putting together
the "NOD SDK version 1.0" which will document all the file formats and so on. We
hope to have a preliminary version of the SDK available by June 7, although some of the
tools might lag behind a bit to polish them a bit more for public consumption. More
detailed info about the demo content and dates will be forthcoming.
The SDK will include:
Embrace editor (modified from QERadiant)
NOT object template editor
NOD viewer (standalone 3D model & LOD viewer)
Documentation for file formats: NOD, NAD, NAM, NAG, NSC, and many others.
HTML documentation for the CODEX Java API (via JavaDoc)
Source code for all Java classes and game scripts
Introduction to using Embrace and other starting documents
Thanks to everyone who participated in the beta and on our web board
during
development!
Vampire is expected to support A3D 2.0 and DS3D with EAX. No idea if
it will feature wavetracing or what version of EAX it will use. For more about the game
and to pre-order you can head over to Gamestop.
- Sammy Sosa Softball Slam demo
3DO has released a demo of the DS3D with EAX supporting Sammy Sosa Softball Slam™.
I'm not sure what version of EAX it uses but I would guess most EAX games now use EAX 2.0
even though games like Sammy Sosa Softball Slam is unlikely to take advantage of the
occlusion and obstruction features. You can grab the
demo from 3dfiles where you will also find a short description of the game.
- Descent 3 1.4 Patch
If you don't like to use the in game auto update you can download the 1.9 MB
Version 1.4 update for the A3D 2.0 and DS3D with EAX 2.0 supporting Descent 3 from
3Dfiles. There are quite a number of bug squashes (many listed on the download page)
included fixes for a sporadic sound crash bug, a sound system crash when playing audio
taunts in the pilot menu before playing the game and a problem that caused unneeded sounds
to not be deleted.
- Messiah Patch 0.2
A 3.9 MB patch has been released for the DS3D with EAX and A3D 3.0 supporting Messiah. The
only audio related fix listed is various problems with CD music loops have been fixed. You
can see the full list of fixes on the 3Dfiles Download Page.
- wHeretic v0.5a build 9
wHeretic v0.5a Build 9 as been released. This new release apparently fixes a problem
related to the true looping sounds. wHeretic audio support is built with the A3D 2.0 API.
For lots more details head on over to the official wHeretic
site. BTW in case you don't know, wHeretic is a W32 port of the original Heretic from
Raven Software.
- Matrix for Half Life Released
If you are looking from some more life out of the excellent A3D 2.0 and DS3D with EAX
supporting Half Life then you might be interested in knowing that the Matrix mod for
Half-Life has been released. For more details and download info head to the official site.
- Martian Gothic patch
TalonSoft has released a patch for the A3D 1.X and DS3D with EAX supporting Martian
Gothic. You can find download links and list of fixes at 3dfiles
- Carnivores 2 v.1.1 Patch
The v.1.1 patch for the A3D 2.0 and DS3D with EAX 2.0 supporting Carnivores 2 fixes sky
problems on some 3D accelerators such as PowerVR, GeForce, Voodoo3, etc. You can grab the 529 KB
patch from 3dfiles. Note that the patch info notes that A3D 2.0 and EAX 2.0 support
was added but I am pretty sure thats a bring forward from the 1.0 patch released way back
in November 99. In fact, everything listed as a fix in the 1.1 patch was listed as a fix
in the 1.0 patch and the file size is identical!
- Allegiance 1.11 Live
Planet Allegiance reports
that the version 1.11 patch for Microsoft Research's DS3D supporting Allegiance in now
live on the main servers.
- Vampire MP3s
Vampire Vault has posted
some new MP3s taken from Nihilistic's gone gold, A3D 2.0 and DS3D with EAX supporting
Vampire: The Masquerade - Redemption. No idea if it will feature wavetracing or what
version of EAX it will use.
- Summoner MP3
There is a new MP3 titled "Carados" available on the downloads page of the
official Summoner Website. FYI "Carados" is the soundtrack for the Daily Radar
gameplay trailer that was recently released. Summoner is a fantasy role-playing game that
is supposed to support A3D 2.0 and DS3D with EAX.
- New: Sound Control Plus v1.76 (BETA)
Paul McKnight of Really Effective Software has just released a new version of Sound
Control Plus v1.76 (BETA). Changes this release include:
- Fixed - Further On Screen Display speed improvements
- Fixed - Eliminated most of the grey On Screen Display issues on some
setups
- Fixed - Delay On Processing hot keys on some setups
- Fixed - Winamp Jump To File window not coming to top
- Added - Hot Keys for Open Winamp, Open Standard Mixer, Open Options
- Added - Small volume popup option when single clicking on tray icon
- Added - Global disable hot key of SCP functionality
- Added - Option to force Winamp Jump To File window to top
- Added - General information hot key
- Added - Hide Tray Icon option
Sound Control Plus is a freeware replacement Windows Sound Mixer
applet which together with most of the features of the standard Windows mixer it also
allows you to add hot keys to adjust any combination of your sound mixer volumes. Support
to control Winamp with a series of hot keys and an On Screen Display is also included.
Supports Windows 95 / 98 / NT4 / 2000 and Millennium-Me. Visit the official website for a full list of features, license and
download information.
- Winamp 2.63 released
Nullsoft has released a new version (2.63) of the popular Winamp. Nullsoft says this
version brings major improvements to Winamp's streaming audio capabilities (such as
authentication), better multiple language support, a WMA encoder, more live content in the
minibrowser, and a host of bug fixes and improvements. You can grab it from Winamp.com
- UltraPlayer Version 1.0 Released!
UltraCo Incorporated announced today the Version 1.0 release of their UltraPlayer™
MP3 Audio Software. The UltraPlayer Version 1.0 media player is available for free
download at www.ultraplayer.com.
UltraPlayer 1.0 plays MP3, WAV, WMA, CD Audio, and Internet radio streams using what the
announcement calls "the highly efficient true-fidelity Neutrino™ MPEG audio
decoder". UltraPlayer also supports secure digital music formats via relationships
with DMOD (Digital Media On Demand), eLicense, and Microsoft Windows Media (WMA). The
media player features a dual-mode, intuitive interface with animated UltraSkins, audio
plugins, and 3D visualization modules. For more details you can check out the full
announcement.
- DVD Genie 3.50
Yet another version of this little tool that allows you to tweak your DVD player has been released.
A couple of major changes. One is there is a fix for the Hollywood-Plus 4-Speaker settings
to work with the newest drivers and the other is support for 4-speaker downmmix has been
enabled for Cinemaster 2000. There are other changes and you can check out the full list here.
Reviews of soundcards, speakers, headphones and MP3 players.
Other sound news
- Can you hear the difference between 24 and 16
bits?
If you don't have a high quality professional soundcard that question may be tough to find
an answer to but you Krüger's PCABX.com
site will also let you see if you can hear the difference between 16, 15, 14, 13, 12,
11 and 10 bits. Here's the post he made recently in the Usenet newsgroup:
I've been continuing to add new listening tests to the "technical"
section of www.pcabx.com.
Many will find these tests interesting and useful both for
understanding technical controversies and also as a means to train their ears to be more
sensitive by listening for the same kinds of changes in varying amounts.
"24, 16, 15, 14, 12, 11, and 10 bit 44 KHz Samples"
Besides shedding some light on the controversy over 24 bits, the
samples with 16 bits or less contain progressively larger amounts of a fairly nasty kind
of nonlinear distortion. Please don't assume that reliably detecting the "13"
bit samples will be a slam dunk.
"60 Hz Jitter applied at -20, -40, -60, and -80 dB"
This is the jitter frequency I find most often in technical tests.
Obviously, the digital signal is getting contaminated by the power supply.
What is not so obvious is how difficult these samples are to detect. I hope to post
samples with other jitter frequencies shortly.
"Brick-Wall Low Pass Filter, Filter Points At 22, 18, 25, 12,
9, And 5 KHz"
We've actually had one report of detection of the 18 KHz filter
among the 100's of people who have tried it.
"Level Mismatches of 10, 3, 1, 0.4 and 0.2 dB"
10, 3, and 1 dB level mismatches should be a slam-dunk for you. They
were for me,even using a very modest monitoring system featuring no-name PC speakers. Then
there are those other two sets of samples...
"Linkwitz-Riley Crossover Simulation, Crossover Points At 300
Hz And 3 KHz"
We've had some positive and negative results reported from these
tests. The finger snap seems to help. See how you do!
You may also find the following follow up post interesting:
> > Why do you need this? Have you ever been in a
recording
environment that
> > has a 110 db dynamic range?
> >
> > This whole idea (24 bit 96 k s/s (by the way it is NOT HERTZ) is
pure
> > garbage.
>
> Which of course begs the question why do people prefer 24bit/96k over
> 16bit/44.1k in double blind listening tests?
Been there, done that, and they don't. This is one of the great
mysteries of life, but AFAIK there are no refereed scientific papers or listening tests
done under DBT conditions with adults and real-world music that show an audible
degradation of the music due to 16/44 digital coding. Here is a long-standing test that
supports that idea: http://www.oakland.edu/~djcarlst/abx_digi.htm
If you go to http://www.pcabx.com/technical/index.htm you can find DBT's that you
can download and do for yourself that illustrate this.
For the "24, 16, 15, 14, 12, 11, and 10 bit 44 KHz Samples" , nobody has ever
reported hearing the effects of degrading program material from 24 or 16 bits to 14 or 15
bits. For the "Brick-Wall Low Pass Filter, Filter Points At 22, 18, 25, 12, 9, And 5
KHz" , aftter 100's of downloads we have exactly 1 unconfirmed report of someone who
could hear the application of a brick wall filter at 18 KHz.
> (Given the general level of background noise in everyday life,
though,
> I'd agree up to a point about the necessity of 110dB dynamic range.)
The facts I've gathered bear you out. I've been looking at the
actual dynamic range of commercial recordings. The numbers are none to impressive. Many
peak out below 60 dB, and the best I've ever seen was about 72 dB.
That all said, the usual justification for production equipment with
high resolution does stand logical scrutiny. Every time you process music, and producing
music can involve processing it dozens of times, it degrades. If you want to deliver
program material with a good solit 14 or 15 bit quality, you have to do all the processing
to a higher standard. However, for delivery and reproduction of the end product by
consumers, 16 bits is actually a bit or two of overkill.
What this all means is that the more bits and higher sample rates of
the upcoming DVD-audio discs are useless but in case of soundcards it could still make a
difference. Worth noting that the current 16 bit consumer cards is clearly behind the
quality of professional 16 bit soundcards.
- Creative taps Internet investments to sell more
cards
That's the title of an article by Bloomberg that takes a look at how Creative's
investments in other companies are used to sell more soundcards. The article also has some
interesting bits on how soundcard sales are going and that Creative thinks their new PDE
(Personal Digital Entertainment) division is where they expect most of the growth in the
future. Here's a couple interesting snips:
Take MediaRing.com Ltd, the world's No. 2 Internet phone
operator, in which Creative has a 12 percent stake. Every time a call is made through the
Singapore-based company, a message pops up to alert users if their computer's audio isn't
enhanced by a Creative's sound card.
I wonder if this is a new trend where a movie from Lucas Film will
complain that your sound system isn't THX certified and music from Sony will let you know
that your Player isn't made by Sony.
Analysts expect the company's profit to rise to about US$127
million in the year ended May 31 from US$115 million a year ago. In its third quarter
ended March, sales of its sound cards surged 47 percent to US$128.7 million, accounting
for 39 percent of total sales. Quarterly profit surged fivefold to a record US$88.3
million.
[snip]
"It's creating a big barrier of entry for others--we're not just competing on a
card-to-card basis anymore," Sim said. "If you want to make a sound card, you
better do it the way Creative does: with support, Web sites, free content, free upgrades.
Now, try to fight that!"
Aureal tried and failed as we all know by now. Interesting to see if
any other company will try to challenge Creative Labs to the extent Aureal did.
New products such as Webcams and Nomad players are part of a new
business segment called "Personal Digital Entertainment" that Creative created
to ensure its survival as the sound card market matures. The group now contributes less
than a tenth of Creative's sales.
"Sound cards gave us a 10-year life span," Sim said.
"The next 10 years, we'll focus on personal digital entertainment--we'll play and
play well in this area."
The star product in that segment is the Nomad JukeBox, an Internet
music player which uses a disk drive to store up to 100 hours of music or the equivalent
of 2,000 songs.
[snip]
"The JukeBox will be the next SoundBlaster," Sim said. "It's something
that's branded and very hard to assemble."
It will be interesting to see how well Creative Labs will succeed in
this market considering they will now face competitors like Sony and Matsushita. That's
something else than a small start up like Aureal.
- SiS SiS730S chipset features 3D sound
SiS last Thursday announced the SiS730S, the industry's first highly integrated single
chip for AMD platform PCs with extensive features targeted at high performance PC market
segment. One of these features Built-in 3D positional audio. No mention of what 3D sound
engine it will use. For more about this chipset check out the press release
- Boston Acoustics Introduces new Car Component
Speakers
Boston Acoustics last Thursday introduced the New Boston Rally®series car component
speakers. There are 3 two-way systems in this new series: The RC620 features a 6.5``
woofer, while the RC520 and RC420 feature a 5'' and 4`` woofer respectively. All the
systems are equipped with three different tweeter mounting kits for maximum installation
flexibility. The RC620 and RC520 have an MSRP of $299 per pair. The RC420 has an MSRP of
$279 per pair. These products will ship in June 2000. You can find more details in the press release
- Polk Audio Announces New Line of After-Market
Multimedia Loudspeakers
Polk Audio has unveiled the second generation Active Media Reference (AMR) line of high
performance self-amplified multimedia speakers. According to the announcement, the new AMR
products are designed to bring high fidelity audio performance to home computers and any
audio source that has a headphone jack, such as portable MP3 and CD players. Polk
Audio’s first generation multimedia speakers earned critical acclaim for audio
quality. The second-generation line features greatly improved performance, significantly
lower prices and digital inputs (2 models). Two of the models are 5 piece, surround sound
systems (no built in decoder) with the AMR-150 featuring a two way design on the front
satellites and two digital inputs as well as analog inputs. Lots more details on each
model, including pricing and availability can be found in their
announcement.
- MidiLand Announces the "MidiLand MK-01
Give-A-Way"
MidiLand has announced the "MidiLand MK-01 Give-A-Way", an exclusive promotion
that entitles all purchasers of the S4 MidiLand 7100 a free pair of MK-01, MidiLand’s
multi-channel speaker system mounting kit, valued at over $49.95 was specially designed
for use with satellite speaker systems. The unit is made of a highly durable material,
Platallic™ ensuring the MK-01’s longevity and ability to hold up to 10 lbs of
weight. The "MidiLand MK-01 Give-A-Way" will run from June 2000 till supplies of
the MK-01 last. An estimated 10,000 pairs of MK-01 Mounting Kits will be given away. All
S4 MidiLand 7100 systems leaving the MidiLand LA Headquarters warehouse will be specially
marked with "MidiLand MK-01 Give-A-Way" stickers on their packaging. Inside the
product packaging will be a registration card further outlining the details of the
promotion. Consumers simply send in the completed registration card along with $4.95 for
S&H ($10 for Alaska, Hawaii and Puerto Rico) and they will receive the MK-01 mounting
kit free! For more details, check out the full press release. Look out for our reviews of both the
MK-01 and the S4-7100 in the near future.
- Hanging CSW PCworks/Soundworks sats on the wall
If you are looking for an easy and inexpensive way to hang the PCworks or other small
speakers that don't have mounting holes you might want to check out
this forum post from Efik. Remember, no registration is necessary to read or post in
the forum.
- Virtual audio for headphones
Do you ever wonder how HRTFs work? There is an excellent article entitled Virtual audio for
headphones written by Dr. Alastair Sibbald of Sensaura that will tell you all about it
and then some. You might also want to check out the site that is hosting the article. It's
called Headwize. HeadWize is a
non-profit headphone resource site started by Chu Moy for the purpose of disseminating
information about headphones and headphone listening.
- THX Optimode allows you to Optimize for
Individual DVD Movies
A unique new DVD software feature from Lucasfilm THX® allows the performance of a home
theatre system to be optimized for individual DVD releases. THX Optimode(TM) consists of a
series of tests that make it easy for consumers to fine-tune the audio and video
performance of their home components. The first DVD release to offer THX Optimode will be
the Special Edition release of Fight Club on June 6. Other releases to come include T2
from Artisan and Anchor's Bay's Repoman, Hell Raiser and Hell Raiser II, with many more to
follow. Check out the press
release for more details
- DivX editorial
Salon.com has
posted a review/editorial about DivX, what's often is refered to the MP3s of DVD
movies. The author of the article was not very impressed.
- New software features universal support for music
formats
Interactive Objects last Thursday introduced iObjects Dadio(TM). Dadio is a digital audio
operating system for portable digital music players that allows mp3 and other digital
music file formats to be played interchangeably. This means that files stored in the
popular mp3 format can play alongside files stored in other formats such as Microsoft's
Windows Media or Dolby's AAC. I-Jam Multimedia will be the first to offer Dadio in its
forthcoming Win-Jam player. Sort of odd choice considering they said it is the first to
exclusively support the Microsoft Windows Media(tm) format. For more about this OS system check out the press release
- Does MS Windows Media Format sound better than
MP3?
We all know that MS claims it does and was also backed up by a study performed by ZD Labs.
In this study consumers found that 64 kbps Windows Media Format was better then MP3s
encoded at 128 kbps. Important to note they used the Xing encoder which is not considered
to a high quality encoder. Arny Krüger's new site pcabx.com recently kicked up a couple
of test files where you can judge how the Windows Media Format compares to the Fraunhofer
encoder, the one used by MusicMatch and also considered to the best one. Here's the post
Arny Krüger made in the newsgroup recently
There seems to be a lot of interest in improving the sound
quality of MP3 files by going to better bit rates. Does it really work? OK, we know it can
work, but what kind of sonic difference are we talking about anyhow?
www.pcabx.com now
has music files you can download and use to compare Musicmatch (Fraunhofer) encoding at
128 Kbps and 256 Kbps, along with brief summary technical reports on each one.
Please see the following web pages:
128 Kbps http://www.pcabx.com/product/mm4300058/index.htm
256 Kbps http://www.pcabx.com/product/mm5000142/index.htm
For a real laugh, have a listen at Microsoft's latest Windows Media
Efforts.
http://www.pcabx.com/product/wme4113920_wmpb1304/index.htm
These files, coded at 128 Kbps are IMO a really good example of how
not to displace MP3 as an audio file format for people who have even a slight interest in
sound quality.
Several striking things kinda leapt out at me when I was preparing
these files. I use narrow clicks to separate the musical selections, and in some cases,
the "Windows Media dynamic duo" simply made the
clicks "go away". This effect is most pronounced in the "Finger Snaps"
selection which is composed of 12 finger snaps. Its actually the same recording of a
finger snap repeated 12 times. Well that's what it sounds like on the reference file and
*every* other file at www.pcabx.com.
But, 12 identical snaps is not what the "Windows Media dynamic duo" does. It
pretty well creams the first snap in the series. So, after coding and decoding there is a
kind of a thud followed by 11 snaps...
The "Windows Media dynamic duo" also falls flat on its
face with the "castanets" samples. Compare to the MusicMatch/Fraunhofer 128 Kbps
samples to see how far MS still needs to go...
I wish I was making this up or it was a technical error on my part!
It's of course possible the difference would be significantly less
or even in MS favour with other type of files. To make your own comparisons using your
favourite music just download
MusicMatch.
- Mötley Crüe Praises Internet, Mocks Metallica
On Yahoo they have an article about how Mötley Crüe unlike several other
bands don't want to sue companies like Napster. Here's a snip
"Mötley Crüe have always supported any outlet, Internet
or otherwise, that allows us to connect to our fans," said bass player Nikki Sixx in
a statement. "We have always allowed our fans to tape shows and exchange bootlegs,
and the Internet is the perfect auditorium for this fan revolution."
Madonna and Warner Bros. Records are less
pleased with Napster and the Internet after they found out that the title track of the
upcoming album, "Music," leaked onto the Web and Napster well in advance of its
release date.
A bit different take on Napster, RIAA and trading illegal MP3s is
available on ZDNet. It's an article written by the independent Musician Stephen Walker who sees
hard times ahead for independent artists unless MP3 swappers change their "evil
ways".
- Xitel Launches MD-Port DG1
Xitel has launched a new addition to their line-up of Mini Disc oriented products. The MD-Port DG1 is similar to the
MD-Port AN1 reviewed by 3DAI with the biggest difference being the DG1 uses an optical
connection to the Mini Disc recorder where as the AN1 uses an analog connection. According
to the info on Xitel's site, the DG1 also automatically inserts track marks where as the
AN1 takes advantage the same feature via Music Match.
- MP3.com Launches New Retail Music Division
Capitalizing on what it sees as a tremendous opportunity for company growth, MP3.com, has
launched a new business division to target the multi-million dollar retail music licensing
market. MP3.com's Retail Music Division provides web-enabled,
business-to-business music delivery solutions to grocery stores, fashion outlets, shopping
malls, restaurants and other retail establishments. These establishments are able to
select from over 424,000 songs and audio files from more than 67,000 artists at the MP3.com site. Subscribers can manage
and modify their music selections anytime and anywhere utilizing an online private account
page. If you want more details check out the full announcement
- Cirrus Logic's Maverick Chosen for Win-Jam
Cirrus Logic last Tuesday announced that its Maverick(tm) system-on-chip (SOC) Internet
audio solution will be featured in the new Win-Jam Digital Audio Player from I-Jam
Multimedia. The device is the first to exclusively support the Microsoft Windows Media(tm)
format, which is great news for MS. Not sure why it's great news for I-Jam's customers
though. The Win-Jam device, which Microsoft has been
promoting by giving away one free device every day for the month of May, enables users to
store twice as much CD-quality music as devices that only support MP3. The player is
scheduled to be available in July. You can check out the press release for more details
- Toshiba Selects Texas Instruments DSP For New
Mobile Audio Player
Toshiba and Texas Instruments last Tuesday announced it is using TI's low-power DSP to power
Toshiba's new Mobile Audio Player, MEA110AS. The player is the world's first to offer a
Secure Digital (SD) memory card slot supporting storage of copyrighted content. Using the
Mobile Audio Player, consumers can download music content to 64MB of built-in flash memory
or to 32MB or 64MB SD memory cards via the player's USB port. TI's
TMS320C5000(TM) DSPs support AAC and MP3 formats, which are used in the Toshiba Mobile
Audio Player. TI's programmable DSPs, which support all current and future compression
formats, allow manufacturers to update features and functions with a simple software
download, rather than by upgrading internal hardware. Additionally, TI's low power DSPs
increase the battery life of Internet audio players and its small size enables
manufacturers like Toshiba to design devices with extremely compact form factors.
- Music Downloads will soon be a
Multibillion-Dollar Business
That's the prediction IDC makes in a recent report based on a recent survey where they
found out that use of music downloads is by far the heaviest among individuals under 20
years old. More than 77% of respondents under 20 said someone in their household has
downloaded songs off the Internet. No other age group exceeded 52% use of downloads.
Additionally, among consumers who have downloaded songs, more than 47% of those under 20
said they or someone in their house owns a portable digital music player. This is nearly
three times the use of the next highest group and indicates approximately one-third of
Internet users under 20 own these music devices or live with someone who does. Based on
these numbers IDC are sure music downloads will increase in importance over time. You can check out the press release
for more details. Worth noting that soon is 5-10 years from now.
- Gnutella & Napster
Tech-Extreme
has posted a short article about Gnutella and Napster. Both programs are mostly used
to trade MP3s but work a bit differently. In case you don't remember Gnutella is the
program Nullsoft introduced but later dumped, not surprisingly considering Nullsoft is
owned by AOL that also owns Time Warner. Here's a taste:
Gnutella allows the direct transfer of information from one user
to another without having to go through a central server that can monitor the
transactions. What this means is that instead of you logging on to a big server like
Napster, you log on to another users computer. Though this process is slightly more
difficult to learn and results in your downloading to be a lot slower, it makes the
network a lot harder to shut down. Instead of just eliminating the central server in
programs like Napster, you would have to eliminate every single computer on the Gnutella
network.
- Modern Humorist: Encyclopedia Brown and the Case
of the Pirated MP3s
ENCYCLOPEDIA BROWN and Sally Kimball, his junior detective partner and bodyguard, were
getting ready to go to the Idaville music festival when a limousine pulled into
Encyclopedia’s driveway.
"Wow!" Sally said. "That car is so big, and so
black!"
Four men in tight, black leather pants and sleeveless T-shirts got
out of the limousine. They had pale skin covered in tattoos, and one of them had bits of
metal hanging from various parts of his face. Encyclopedia and Sally exchanged worried
glances. They had never seen men their fathers' age wearing leather pants before.
"Do not be frightened, young children, I am Lars Ulrich,
powerhouse drummer for Metallica, and we are needing your help, Encyclopedia Brown."
Metallica is a popular musical group known for blending traditional rock and roll with
heavy metal while using more introspective and meaningful lyrics than most metal bands.
"I am giving you a quarter."
Encyclopedia accepted the coin and asked, "What can we do for
you?"
"Someone is stealing our music!" growled James Hetfield,
rhythm guitar and lead vocals.
That's just a small taste of what awaits you over at the Modern
Humorist.
- Never Mind the Manilow
Never Mind
the Manilow is the title of a new article just posted on BarrysWorld. In it they
highlights some off the musical highlights (and lowlights) in gaming history. Here`s a
snip:
With a lot of the titles that I've had exposure to in my gaming
life (I'm talking now about long before BarrysWorld was an itch in Teds pants or a nasty
rash in DBs knickers) the music was nothing more than an annoying embellishment that was
(if the option was available) turned off. To be honest with some titles it still is, and
indeed some genres (hard core flight sims for one). But with some titles the game just
wouldn't be the same without it. Some titles just shine through and you find that if
you're denied the music the game just doesn't have the same appeal, it's those titles
which have prompted this ramble.
- Game Music Broadcast
Our friend Jeff Atwood has started a new website called Game basement and their latest
feature is 24/7 broadcast of game music. You can check out the broadcast info
here and they are also looking for some feedback on your favourite game music.
For more news from last week check out our news archive.
Upcoming features at 3DsoundSurge
- Altec Lansing's ATP3
- DigiTheatre DTS
- MidiLand S4 7100
- A review of PowerDVD 2.55
- Monsoon MM-1000
- Turtle Beach Cancun
As always if you have any ideas for products we should review or
features we should do, please let us know.
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