recording

Fan-funded music

Making a professional-sounding recording can be expensive, particularly for ensembles (like rock bands) who want to capture at least some semblance of a live performance.

Sure, you can get an decent recording with a portable stereo recorder, or a couple of inexpensive mics panned left and right and plugged directly into the mixer, but most artists want their music to sound as good as it possibly can--as good as any other artist played on the radio. That takes an array of microphones and other audio gear and somebody who knows what they're doing. In other words, money.

In the … Read more

Sun open-sources digital archiving

Sun Microsystems continues to run amok in the open-source world, open-sourcing software in every direction. Today, it is in the direction of digital-archiving software, which has been used to capture and maintain "business images, records, consumer- and corporate-created digital content, e-science work, and high-performance computing (HPC) data for hundreds of years."

How does Sun expect to make money? In this case, it's the hardware, which makes a lot of sense:… Read more

When will iTunes replace Wal-Mart as No. 1 music retailer?

Apple's iTunes will likely whip past Wal-Mart Stores to become the largest U.S. music retailer sometime this year.

The NPD Group issued a report Tuesday that said Apple had outpaced Best Buy and Target to become the No. 2 U.S. music retailer. Unless the downward trend in CD sales suddenly reverses, Apple will be No. 1, said Russ Crupnick, the NPD Group's president of Music.

"Digital sales were up close to 50 percent and CD sales were down 20 percent last year," Crupnick said. "Even at half that growth rate in digital sales, … Read more

Britney ban at Enterprise-Record extended another month

On Thursday, I wrote about how David Little at the Chico Enterprise-Record issued a decree in his January 20 column declaring that Britney Spears would go unmentioned for at least an entire month in the newspaper's print publication. After salvaging my e-mail from quarantine (neither one of us have any idea why my e-mail ended up marked), David wrote back Thursday night to share the news that the Britney Blackout has been extended for another month. He attached a section of the e-mail he sent out to his staff announcing the decision. I doubt any of you had this written on your calendar, but the E-R's Britney Blackout ends today. Except it doesn't end. Nobody has canceled their newspaper. Not one person has even called or written to complain. And yet approximately 50 people have called, written or told me personally that they are glad we're doing this. ...

Anyway, we're going to do this for another month. Of course, we won't be able to announce that in the newspaper because that would violate our no-BS ban. So we'll quietly continue to keep any mention of Britney out of the newspaper. Not even any secondary references in unrelated stories. Nothing. Not even a mention if she storms the stage at the Oscars on Sunday and, in a drunken stupor, pulls a Janet Jackson. Nothing.

… Read more

Buzz Out Loud 666: Tickle me and die

EPISODE 666

Why don't video recorders have HDMI inputs?--Ask the Editors

CNET reader "deesmac" asks:

Why doesn't a DVD recorder have an HDMI in, as well as an HDMI out?

It's a great question. High-Definition Multimedia Interface provides the advantage of passing a high-bandwidth all-digital high-definition video and audio signal on a single cable, as opposed to the tangle of component video plus audio cables that were required for HD. (If those terms are Greek to you, check out the connectivity section of the CNET TV Buying Guide.) HDMI is now the standard connector for HDTVs and all of the HD-capable components that connect to them--DVD players and recorders, DVRs, game consoles, Blu-ray and HD DVD players, and even camcorders and PCs. But all of those are video sources that only have HDMI outputs. You'll find HDMI inputs only on AV receivers, HDMI switchers, and--of course--TVs. So, why the disparity? … Read more

A Chico newspaper decides to "leave Britney alone"

At the time of this writing, a search for "Britney Spears" at news.google.com reveals 23,600 articles. By comparison, Britney's friend, Lindsay Lohan, who appears nude in in this month's issue of New York Magazine, and has also had significant personal drama in the past, has a paltry 4,028 articles currently linked to from Google News.

Last month, David Little, the editor of the Chico Enterprise-Record, decided that he had had enough. In a column published on January 20, titled Sit back and enjoy a Britney blackout, Little announced that "This is the last mention you'll see of Britney Spears in the E-R until Feb. 20. If we find this newspaper can exist without her, we may go even longer." It's now February 21st and the E-R is still running Britney free. I e-mailed Little to find out how long he plans to continue the blackout and will update this blog when I hear from him.

( Update here) In his column David Little describes the impetus for the "Britney blackout:"...an assistant bureau chief for the Associated Press sent out a memo to all Southern California AP reporters. It said: "Now and for the foreseeable future, virtually everything involving Britney is a big deal. That doesn't mean every rumor makes it on the wire. But it does mean that we want to pay attention to what others are reporting and seek to confirm those stories that WE feel warrant the wire."… Read more

Buzz Out Loud 665: Run, Alex, run!

EPISODE 665

Google to kick-start medical records program with Cleveland Clinic

Update at 12:19 PM PT: This story was updated to reflect the World Privacy Forum's position on PHRs in general.

Google is set to announce on Thursday that it will be using the Cleveland Clinic hospital in Cleveland, Ohio as the pilot site for its new personal health records initiative.

Between 1,500 and 10,000 patients at the Cleveland, Ohio, facility will participate in the project's test run, volunteering to have their medical records transferred to their Google accounts. The hospital already keeps electronic records for over 100,000 patients in an internal system called MyChart, … Read more