Audio/MP3

Vringo video ringtones, the ultimate caller ID

David Goldfarb's phone won't stop ringing.

The Vringo CTO is giving me a demo of Vringo's video ringtone service, now in public beta, to demonstrate how users can assign phone-formatted video clips as their outgoing ringtones. David has chosen a humorous singing cartoon of a green bear as his video calling card. He's set it up so that any phone he calls with a Vringo client will light up with his chosen video. If so desired, he could limit the output to his wife and send everyone else a much more sober video to announce his call.

Vringo reverses the conventional ringtone concept of users choosing songs to differentiate between contacts, entertain themselves with favorite songs, or make a stylistic statement. Here individuals control how they're perceived by friends, and can use "vringos" as a gift or personalized greeting. Users can upload their own clips on Vringo.com or record clips from within the Vringo phone app. It's easy to see how users could create happy birthday messages or video gifts.… Read more

Hard-Fi: the joys of turning it up to 11

Playing music and movies really loud is a lot of fun, too bad most of you are missing out on that part of the experience. Obviously, the speakers built into TVs aren't up to the job, and that's the way 80% of you experience TV. HTIB owners are likewise out of luck. Yeah, they may boast of having "1,000" watts on tap, but if you believe that, well, puhleeze! That 8 pound amplifier may, on a good day, squeeze out a few hundred watts.

If you really want to feel something when you're watching … Read more

Migo's sneak peek at smart video-, music-syncing software

Migo Software has announced a new, beefier version of its PC-to-device syncing software slated to unveil in beta form in January 2008. I got to preview the Windows app, code named SlingShot, at the CTIA Wireless conference.

The slick new interface will bring together back-end tools of smart device and format detection that will operate at every stage of the media transfer experience. It will include, for example, a smart setup wizard that helps configure your cell phone or external hard drive to play your music and video, and on-the-fly format conversion for your cell phone or external hard drive.… Read more

You only have two ears--why do you need a surround sound system to play music?

Granted, home theater and multichannel sound go together like peanut butter and jelly, but music, even now in the twenty first century is pretty much a stereo-only affair. Ergo, if you listen to more music than watch movies, ditch the hassles of the 5.1 channel, satellite/subwoofer model and get yourself a decent stereo receiver and a pair of really nice speakers.

Outlaw Audio's RR 2150 "Retro Receiver" sounds spectacular with music and better yet, it's a refreshingly simple to use alternative to all of the stupidly complicated seven-channel A/V receivers I've used.… Read more

Use it or lose it: Do you care if your local video rental store goes away?

They're fast disappearing in my neighborhood. The Blockbuster shuttered a while back and only two of the five independent shops are left, but their days are numbered. For me it's like deja vu all over again, I remember in the '80s and '90s when record stores were dropping like flies. The real death knell came last year when Tower Records slid into oblivion, and I really miss the two NYC stores.

I think it's sad when local businesses whither and die, and we customers send our dollars and those lost jobs out of state. NYC is turning … Read more

Do all amplifiers sound alike?

A reader wrote asking the age old question--Do all amplifiers sound alike? "Mr. Guttenberg, I've been enjoying what you write about since I am a budding audiophile. A guy I know claims that amplifiers do not alter the quality of the sound and pointed me to a web site with a $10,000 challenge by Richard Clark that states that the human ear cannot discern the differences between amplifiers. What are your feelings on the subject and do you think there is any merit to this man's challenge?"

Well, I do believe that there are important … Read more

Power Downloader uses audio-editing software

Recently, Power Downloader received an e-mail from a contact in Spain who worked as a well-liked bellhop for a large hotel in the coastal city of Valencia. What the hotel management didn't know was that their trusted bellhop was secretly highly skilled in wiretapping and the use of parabolic microphones, which is why Power Downloader kept him in his list of contacts. Immediately interested, Power turned off his MP3 player and read further.… Read more

Speakers that are literally works of Art: the $140,000 KEF Muon

KEF, one of Britain's leading speaker manufacturers, had a press event earlier this week in New York City to show off their new Muon speakers. I was curious to see the speaker in the flesh, and now that I have I can say the pictures don't do it justice. They are the most beautiful speakers I've ever seen.

Designed by Ross Lovegrove (a top industrial designer), they are indeed works of 21 century art, fabricated from malleable sheets of heated aluminum. The process was required to produce the Muon's complex curves, dictated by the design's … Read more

Return of the llama: Winamp 5.5 impresses

When Winamp 5.3 came out a year ago, it impressed many who had written it off, although that may have been simply because it hadn't died a quiet death of obsolescence. Long-needed steps to improve the old-school media player were implemented, with support for AAC encoding, CD burning, and a robust file-management system.

Thirteen months on, Winamp 5.5 ups the ante again with strong support for portable devices, including iPods, the ability to sync non-DRMed files to your PC from your device, an optional new interface layout, a built-in browser for media discovery, and other nifty tricks.

Three sound ideas from the audio engineering show in NYC

The Audio Engineering Society was holding court at the Javits Convention Center in New York City last week. The show is aimed at recording industry professionals, but I figured I'd find stuff that would possibly appeal to consumer oriented buyers.

I heard a great demonstration of multichannel music at the ATC room. When I strolled in they were playing an Elton John recording, and the five big speakers punched out an incredibly dynamic sound. Classical music was natural and very, very clear. The big monitors are used in recording studios, but ATC offers consumer models as well.

When I … Read more