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Victrola's new Hi-Res wireless turntables won't require a Sonos setup
Victrola's new Hi-Res Carbon and Hi-Res Onyx both have built-in Qualcomm audio hardware that will connect to any Bluetooth speakers or headphones. This audio hardware upgrade is a major shift for Victrola.
Guinness reinstates Billy ‘King of Kong’ Mitchell’s world records
Guinness World Records reinstates Billy "Video Game Player of the Century" Mitchell's 'Donkey Kong' and 'Pac-Man' records.
NYPD will replace handwritten logs with an iPhone app later this month
After more than a century, the New York City Police Department (NYPD) is retiring the handwritten memo books carried by police officers and replacing them with an app, The New York Times reports. On February 17th, officers will begin recording their detailed activity logs in an iOS app on department-issued iPhones.
Over 267 million Facebook users reportedly had data exposed online
More than 267 million Facebook users allegedly had their user IDs, phone numbers and names exposed online, according to a report from Comparitech and security researcher Bob Diachenko. That info was found in a database that could be accessed without a password or any other authentication, and the researchers believe it was gathered as part of an illegal scraping operation or Facebook API abuse.
Judge demands Facebook hand over data privacy records
Facebook will have to hand over emails and records related to how it handled the Cambridge Analytica scandal. In September, shareholders sued the company in order to obtain information pertaining to the leak. Today, a US judge sided with shareholders, ordering Facebook to release the documents.
Bandcamp will open its first record store in California next month
Bands and indie artists using Bandcamp to sell their music and merchandise might soon see their creations sold in the service's first brick-and-mortar location. The online platform, known for providing musicians an online portal where they can sell direct to consumers, is opening a physical store in Oakland California on February 1st. Bandcamp says it's featuring records that can showcase its platform's diversity, but the selection will be nowhere near as broad as what it offers online.
Music streaming is fueling vinyl's resurgence
Streaming has been blamed for killing off the CD, but industry experts agree it's helping bolster the growth and quality of another physical music format: vinyl. Since 2015, streaming income has eclipsed CD sales, and the likes of Apple Music and Spotify have become major players in the music industry. This year the Recording Industry Association of America reported that 75 percent of music revenue in the United States came from streaming services. In the past three years, vinyl sales in the US have steadily risen about $2 million annually.
Vinyl record production has finally joined the modern age
When you think of manufacturing in the US, vinyl records probably isn't the first thing that springs to mind, but the industry has been chugging along as best it can. For decades, pressing plants have been using aging machines that require a complex infrastructure of piping for the steam-based heating (and cooling) mechanisms -- not to mention an engineering support team to keep them in working order. New vinyl presses just weren't being made, at least until a few years ago. Two companies emerged to fill that need. Newbilt Machinery launched around 2015 in Germany with slightly updated (cloned) versions of old presses, adding electronic controls and hydraulic power. In February 2017, Jack White's Third Man pressing plant opened in Detroit running Newbilt's manual Duplex machines. That same year, Toronto-based Viryl Technologies joined the market with its WarmTone presses. These machines weren't clones, but built fresh from the ground up including a modular construction, fully automated operation and remote machine monitoring (even from a mobile device) with its ADAPT software. Viryl's tech support can log into the system remotely to help troubleshoot any problems. Still, like Newbilt, they required a large boiler system and network of piping to support their operation. Anyone looking to start a pressing plant still faced hefty startup and maintenance costs, a difficult permit and zoning process, as well as a less-than-ideal impact on the environment.
How to buy a turntable
So you want to start collecting vinyl. Great! Record sales have been steadily climbing, and in March, physical music outsold downloads for the first time in six years. You might've even started buying vinyl already to get in on the action. But given how long the format has been around, picking out a turntable can be as daunting as building a home HiFi system to connect it to. It doesn't have to be. You can spend anywhere from $60 on a Crosley all-in-one at Target to more than $3,000 for an audiophile-grade deck, with plenty of options in between. But what's the difference between a budget turntable and something that costs more than a few months' rent? And do you really need to spend that much? What are the features you shouldn't go without? Let us give you a hand.
HD vinyl is a promise, not a product
Günter Loibl thinks vinyl needs an update. Two years ago he filed a patent for a new way to make records, using lasers (rather than a traditional cutting lathe) to pack the grooves tighter and add 30 percent more usable space. Thanks to the laser, it's actually better for the environment too. The promise is records with longer playing times, more dynamic range and extra amplitude. Supposedly you can even enjoy the benefits of "HD vinyl" albums on the turntable and needle you already own. On paper, this all seems like a win-win. But there's a problem: This isn't the first time someone promised an upgraded listening experience, and music collectors tend to be a skeptical bunch. Vinyl lovers have less to complain about lately too, thanks to advances in pressing technology that make new records sound pristine, free from the format's pops and crackles. You won't be able to buy an album on HD vinyl until next year, at least, and once you can, it's going to cost quite a bit more than a traditional album. Loibl's company, Rebeat Innovations, doesn't have any test pressings for proof and won't until at least this August. Still, Loibl wants you to trust him. "Be a little patient and let me convince you," he said.
FedEx left sensitive customer data exposed on unsecured server
It seems like there's no end to the data breach stories. Uber covered their problem up, then had to answer to Congress. Equifax's initial response to its massive data exposure added its own security issue. Federal employees were even found stealing data from Homeland Security. Now FedEx customer records — including passports, drivers licenses and other security IDs — have been exposed, according to security researchers at Kromtech.
Universal debuts a vinyl buying service based on SMS recommendations
It isn't hard to find vinyl subscription services these days. All it takes is a scroll through your Facebook News Feed and you're bound to stumble across at least a few. While outfits like Turntable Lab and Vinyl Me, Please offer exclusive reissues (like Gorillaz's Demon Days), there's a lot of chaff in the mix as well. That's something Universal Music Group's new service The Sound of Vinyl might address.
Technics' SP-10R is its latest high-end throwback turntable
If you thought Technic's SL-1200 reissue was expensive, you haven't seen anything yet. Meet the SP-10R. Technics calls the throwback deck its "most premium turntable ever" and its 7kg (almost 15.5 pounds) brass, rubber and aluminum platter drives that claim home even further. "By optimizing the natural frequency of each ayer, external vibrations are thoroughly suppressed resulting in a beautifully clear and crisp audio experience," a very technically-worded press release says.
Taylor Swift’s new music video sets first-day record on YouTube
Taylor Swift returned from her self-imposed social media exile with a single that's already breaking records. Her music video for 'Look What You Made Me Do' raked in over 31 million views on YouTube in its first 24 hours, surpassing Adele's previous high-water mark of 27.7 million views of 'Hello' for most-watched video on the platform in a single day.
Aphex Twin is the latest artist to open an online record store
Aphex Twin is opening an online record store. For his own music, of course. The Vinyl Factory reports that Richard D. James has started his direct-to-fans store with reissues of his back catalog including ... I Care Because You Do and newer stuff like Computer Controlled Acoustic Instruments pt2. More than that, there's a ton of digital-only and unreleased music on offer as well. What's available today isn't the half of it, though. "ALL Rephlex material will be going up here in due course+xtras," a note at the bottom of the site reads.
Australia's first vinyl factory in 30 years will open next year
Thanks to new production technology and the support of big companies like Sony, vinyl is hot these days. Trent Reznor is releasing his Quake score for LP, the Contra soundtrack is available as a record at Comic-Con this year, and Blu-ray versions of Deadpool and Logan come with their own vinyl counterparts. Now there's a new pressing plant set to open in Melbourne, making it the first modern record press in Australia in 30 years.
Sony plans to revive its vinyl record production
Sony was late to the vinyl resurgence with a new turntable of its own, and it's going to be later yet with its effort to jump back into pressing records. Nikkei reports that thanks to demand, the perpetually tardy tech company will first start putting Japanese music (and some modern hits) to wax, with production starting next March. In fact, the company has already outfitted a recording studio with a press so it can produce masters in situ. If there's a roadblock, it's that Sony is apparently having a hard time finding engineers to help guide the pressing process.
Cassette sales actually went up in 2016
We're barely a month into the new year, but it's already clear some of us still want to live in the past. Case in point: US cassette tape sales actually grew in 2016, with a whopping 129,000 copies sold. That might not be as many as the number of vinyl albums sold in the same year (13.1 million!), but it's an impressive 74 percent increase from the 74,000 sold in 2015.
UK vinyl sales made more money than music downloads last week
Digital music might be the future, but legacy formats like vinyl aren't going away any time soon. New figures from the Entertainment Retailers Association (ERA) have shown that more money was spent on vinyl records than digital music downloads in the UK last week, highlighting a significant shift in how consumers are choosing to buy their music.
Discogs' vinyl app offers more info on artists, labels and releases
Discogs' vinyl-tracking app has been available for everyone since February, but today the company revealed an update for the iOS version. The redesign is primarily focused on serving up more details on artists, record labels and releases. For example, the mobile software now pulls it Discogs' database info on an individual musician or band. We're talking things like image galleries, band members, name variations, aliases and more. Any related artists and releases are linked which makes it easy to go hunting for new material.
