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The Digital Music Revolution: What Download Sites Have to Offer -- Part Ten

This month I spent some time at the B&W (Bowers and Wilkins) . B&W might be familiar to SoundStage! Network readers because they manufacture highly rated and innovative http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js">loudspeakers. It therefore stands to reason that the company would want to put the best in sound on their software download site.
B&W has engaged the golden ear of musician Peter Gabriel to select their releases, which are all recorded at Peter Gabriel’s Real World Studios. Gabriel has openly praised the Society of Sound philosophy:
I’m a huge fan of the digital revolution, but one of the things that’s frustrating about it is that the audio quality seems to have taken a step backwards. Society of Sound provides a platform for those of us who have worked really hard to get things to sound full and rich and build landscapes out of sound.
B&W offers downloads in three formats: 16-bit FLAC, Apple Lossless, and 24-bit FLAC. It’s one of the few sites to offer Apple Lossless, which I use at home when converting my CDs to files because it offers excellent fidelity while saving space.
B&W works sort of like the you can purchase memberships for about $40 for a half year and $55 for a full year. The full membership lets you download the selected new monthly albums in any format you choose, complete with notes and art. You’ll also have occasional access to other labels’ samplers and B&W back catalog titles. If you take advantage of every available download, you’ll end up paying $3 or $4 each. http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js">
But if you’re unsure about B&W’s music, their free membership is still an excellent deal. With it you can download a sampler as well as one or two tracks from each selected monthly album. The one catch is that you can download these excerpts only in 16-bit FLAC or Apple Lossless, as 24-bit FLAC is reserved for paying customers. You can, however, upgrade your membership at any time. B&W’s site also lets you listen to 30-second excerpts of each track on the site and watch videos of groups exploring their instruments and explaining their music philosophies.
Once you have a membership, B&W will send reminders when new albums are available and links so you can quickly check them out. It’s like having a perpetually updated sampler. Membership in the B&W Society of Sound also gives you access to various audiophile blogs. The hot-button question of the moment is "Is studio recording killing music?"
I found the music at B&W a mixed but enjoyable bag, ranging from folk and jazz to folk rock and a little bit of power rock. I especially liked Charlie Winston’s Passport, which virtually defies categorization. Sometimes it seems like folk; other times it’s dramatic R&B or even urgent electro-pop. American singer Julianna Raye captures bossa nova jazz perfectly in her Dominoes album, which channels Astrud Gilberto. Tom Kerstens and his ensemble find new sounds for acoustic guitar and strings, while Portico Quartet bring unique colorings to jazz with their saxophone, double bass, drums, and Hang. http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js">
The recordings are detailed and revealing, with perfect balance between instruments and voices. The only transgression I noticed was that on the Grindhouse disc, the raucous instrumentation overwhelmed the vocals. The downloads, which arrived as zipped folders, were quick and simple. As with most worthwhile sites these days, all the music is DRM free. I also liked having the Apple Lossless and 24-bit FLAC options.
The site is fascinating, but I have to admit that even though I made some interesting discoveries, I didn’t warm up to all of the music. I’d therefore recommend the free membership and a spirit of discovery in approaching B&W’s Society of S

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SIGGRAPH 2009 Adds New Focus on Music & Audio

an added focus will highlight music and audio in their significant relationship with computer graphics and interactive techniques."Just as important as the graphics themselves are the musical elements and how they enhance the visuals and storyline in order to complete the audience experience. The creation and manipulation of sound and music provide an open challenge and creative opportunity in interactive techniques," stated Peter Braccio, SIGGRAPH 2009 Conference Industry Relations Director. "This new focus on Music & Audio aims to highlight not just the close relationship music and graphic arts have to one another, but also how the integration of music and audio enhances the overall impact of visual pieces."The SIGGRAPH 2009 Music & Audio programming will include a Keynote presentation by the pioneer of sound and two-time Academy Award(R) winning Sound Designer, Randy Thom, as well as a series of panels discussions, featuring musicians and composers from around the globe. In addition to music performances, courses on topics such as "Creating New Interfaces for Musical Expression", and "Interactive Sound Rendering" will also take place.Highlights from the SIGGRAPH 2009 Music & Audio program include:Keynote Presentation: Designing a Movie for Sound: How to Make Sound a Full Collaborator in the Storytelling ProcessSpeaker: Randy ThomRandy Thom has worked in a wide variety of creative capacities in more than 75 films including some of Hollywood's biggest blockbusters such as BOLT, FORREST GUMP, HARRY POTTER AND THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS, HARRY POTTER AND THE GOBLET OF FIRE, RATATOUILLE, WAR OF THE WORLDS, and WILD AT HEART. Thom began working for Lucasfilm in 1979 as a sound designer and re-recording mixer and is currently the Director of Sound Design at Skywalker Sound. He received two Academy Awards for Best Sound in THE RIGHT STUFF and Best Achievement in Sound Editing for THE INCREDIBLES. In all, Thom has shared 14 Academy Award nominations, and has worked with some of today's leading directors and producers.Sound and StoryModerator: Paul Lipson, Game Audio Network Guild, Pyramind, Inc.Panelists: Lorne Lanning, Oddworld Inhabitants; Brian Schmidt, Brian Schmidt Studios, LLC, GameSoundCon; Tommy Tallarico, Tommy Tallarico Studios, Inc., Video Games Live, Game Audio Network GuildWhat we hear greatly influences what we see and feel. This panel celebrates the role of sound and music in the aesthetic experience of storytelling. Experts in film and videogame sound design and composition discuss the art of combining audio with visual narrative, present highlights and favorites, and debate emerging directions for sound and story.DIY Music & DistributionModerator: Scott Draves, Google Inc., ElectricSheep.org Panelists: Eddie Codel, Geek Entertainment TV; Aaron Koblin, Google Creative Lab; Tiffiniy Cheng, Participatory Culture FoundationA discussion of how low-cost or open-source development and distribution tools are affecting creative production. It features creative pioneers and programmers who have irretrievably altered musical composition, computer graphics, the future of journalism, and the definition of art. Like every advancement since the Stone Age, their work enlists the help of machines to improve upon what humans once made by themselves -- fundamentally modern, but also timeless.The Visual in New Interfaces for Musical ExpressionModerator: Georg Essl, University of MichiganPanelists: Joseph Paradiso, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Sergi Jorda, Universitat Pompeu Fabra and Reactable SystemsWe are constantly creating new ways to generate and organize sound. Sometimes the result is plain fun, and sometimes it's just really nice to listen to. This panel brings together experts who have tried to create new interfaces for musical expression through very different technical means. Using tabletop interfaces, visual-sound installations, mobile music making, and circuit bending, the panelists explore what the visual means in these different approaches to musical art.Creating New Interfaces for Musical ExpressionInstructors: Sid Fels, University of British Columbia; Michael Lyons, Ritsumeikan University Advances in digital audio technologies have led to computers playing a role in most music production and performance. Digital technologies offer unprecedented opportunities for creation and manipulation of sound, but the flexibility of these new technologies imply an often-confusing array of choices for instrument designers, composers, and performers. This course covers the theory and practice of new musical-interface design and explores principles that are useful for designing good musical interfaces.

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SAN FRANCISCO —, the Silicon Valley company that popularized the digital video recorder, and , the national electronics chain, are forging a broad partnership.
On Thursday, the companies plan to announce that Best Buy will heavily promote TiVo products in its 1,100 stores in the United States. TiVo will develop a version of its set-top box, to be sold in Best Buy stores, that will let the retailer advertise its products and services to TiVo subscribers on their home televisions.
The companies did not disclose financial details other than to say that Best Buy was making a multiyear commitment to advertise TiVo devices. Tom Rogers, TiVo’s chief executive, said it was “a huge step above any kind of marketing that has ever been done for TiVo before.”
As part of the deal, the companies also said that Best Buy would finance an effort to bring TiVo’s software and search tools to Best Buy’s own brand of consumer electronics, like its Insignia high-definition TVs.
Both companies are trying to significantly change how the world sees them.
Facing fierce competition from and , the Minneapolis-based Best Buy wants to extend its relationship with its customers outside of its stores. It has steadily expanded its Geek Squad customer service operation and last fall acquired the music subscription service Napster for $121 million.
TiVo said it planned to make the Napster music service available to TiVo subscribers on their televisions.
TiVo, for its part, desperately wants people to stop thinking of its technology purely as a way to pause and record live television.
That remains an important feature in TiVo boxes. But over the last few years, as cable and satellite companies introduced their own DVRs, TiVo has tried to position its device as a media hub that combines traditional television with a broad range of content from the Internet.
Current owners of broadband-connected TiVos, for example, can watch But TiVo has had a hard time telling people about that.
In an effort to reach profitability after years of significant operating losses, it slashed its quarterly marketing budget from around $9 million in 2007 to less than $1 million during the quarter that ended April 30 of this year. The number of households with TiVo devices fell to 1.6 million in April, from 1.727 million two years earlier.
“The kind of strategic marketing embrace this deal involves will very substantially advance the understanding of what we now have to offer,” Mr. Rogers said.
As part of the deal, Best Buy also plans to use TiVo to offer advice and guidance on products like HDTVs and digital cameras and provide ways to buy these products via the television remote control. TiVo currently offers its users ways to order pizzas, buy products on Amazon and get movie tickets from Fandango from their TV sets.
Best Buy stock has nearly doubled since hitting a November low, buoyed by the disappearance of rivals like Circuit City and signs of consumer spending. TiVo stock has also doubled since then, largely on positive news from its intellectual property court battle with the satellite technology provider EchoStar.

The Digital Music Revolution: What Download Sites Have to Offer -- Part Nine
This month I spent a lot of time at the Boston Symphony Orchestra’s Digital Music Store, finding some expected blockbusters but also discovering some unanticipated gems.
The BSO site is a case of an artistic institution blowing its own horn, something we can expect to see more of from both organizations and individual artists. Its direct-to-the-audience method of distribution eliminates the middle man to offer lower prices and still generate a profit. The only downside is the missing stumble-upon effect that sites like HDtracks and Magnatune offer. Because the BSO is casting a narrower net with its online store, fewer people will discover these recordings by accident.
The Digital Music Store is part of the BSO’s main site, which also lists upcoming concerts and sells tickets for live events. That said, the store has its own section, so you don’t have to bother with the rest of the site unless you feel like exploring. The store’s best feature may be its pricing and membership offers. Each title carries an individual price, ranging from $8.99 to $12.99, but the store also offers memberships: $30 buys you a membership for three months, and $50 gets you a whole year. Once you’re a member, you can download anything you want from the site, including new titles that appear during your membership term. I joined for three months, and I’ve already downloaded 17 albums. That comes out to $1.76 a download, which is quite a bargain!
Most of the downloads are offered in four formats: MP3 (320kbps), AIFF and WMA stereo (24-bit, 88.2kHz), and WMA surround (24-bit, 88.2kHz). All but the MP3 downloads qualify as high resolution. The files are also DRM (digital rights management) free, so once you’ve downloaded them you can use the files as you see fit. As with most other sites, you must create an account, which makes return visits easy, and you can pay with major credit cards. And thanks to the site’s own download manager, downloading is simple. You create a destination folder for the files (I prefer a folder on my desktop) and the manager does the rest. Even better, the downloads are reasonably fast (depending on the format you select).
The site’s selection is slightly limited. But the quality of each recording makes up for the lack of titles. The Boston Symphony Orchestra is featured in live HD recordings of Mahler’s Symphony No.6, Brahms’s German Requiem, and Ravel’s Daphnis et Chloé, as well as William Bolcom’s Eighth Symphony and Lyric Concerto for flute, featuring James Galway. All of these titles are conducted by music director James Levine. Applause is left in for the works with noisier endings (Ravel and Bolcom) but omitted for the Mahler and Brahms. The music is performed with fire and precision and recorded in state-of-the-art sound. The bass is focused, the highs are sweet, the soundstage is wide and fairly deep, and the dynamic range is very wide.
The store also features recordings from the Boston Pops and conductor Keith Lockhart: The Red Sox Album (which features "Casey at the Bat" and a lot of thrilling patriotic music), Sleigh Ride (which is curiously listed as a "partial album"), Oscar and Tony: Award-Winning Music from the Stage and Screen, and America (another partial album). Lovers of chamber music will find a luminous recent studio recording of Mozart’s various quartet configurations for winds and strings performed by the Boston Symphony Chamber Players, including the clarinet, horn, flute, and oboe quintets.
I was surprised to see that a number of recordings from the BSO’s From the Broadcast Archives series have been included. Because some of these radio performances are dated, they vary in quality and are available only in MP3 (though many still sound wonderful). But the performances are incredible, particularly Respighi’s Pines of Rome, which is the best I’ve heard. Also included are a riveting, hell-for-leather reading of Vaughan Williams’s Symphony No.4 from maestro Sir Colin Davis, a most effective rendition of Shostakovich’s Symphony No.1 from the former (and now late) music director Erich Leinsdorf, and a lot more. All of these recordings include applause, and it’s not stretching the truth to say they all deserved it.
A concert by the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra from 2006 rounds out the listings. Considering the quality of the performances, sound, and repertory, the Boston Symphony Orchestra’s online store offers download gold for the price of tin. The site offers a truly remarkable bargain

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Editorial Reviews
Product Description"The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated." -- Mark Twain
Mark Twain (1835-1910) was the first American writer to capture the unique and colorful vernacular of his country's populace. Instead of striving to perfect any particular literary form, Twain strove to precisely imprint on paper the colloquial speech, mannerisms and experiences of the American people.
Twain's books earned him an enduring reputation as a satirist and humorist, but he also wrote great short stories. These stories, with their wonderful characters and witty turns-of-phrase, have defined in Americans' minds what it means to have been at a time in our country which was at once optimistic, exploratory and recklessly exploitative.
Listeners can still benefit today from hearing Mark Twain's stories and selections from his novels as they become again what they originally were: the oral history of our uniquely American consciousness.
Includes selections from Life on the Mississippi, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Roughing It, and The Autobiography of Mark Twain, and the short stories The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County, The £1,000,000 Bank-Note, The Joke That Made Ed's Fortune, A Dog's Tale, A Story Without an End and many more.
Performed by Ed Begley, Sr., Walter Brennan, Brandon de Wilde, Will Geer, and David WayneAbout the AuthorMark Twain was the pen name of Samuel Langhorne Clemens. Often called America's greatest satirist, he is best known for his novels The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, The Prince and the Pauper, and A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court. Born in 1835, Twain died in 1910.