LOUDSPEAKERS: Does the Totem Mani-2 still rate as one of the ...

DRM in
Canada
“DRM” of course stands for “Digital
Rights Management,” technology
to limit what consumers can do with
music, movies and other material they’ve
bought. In the United States DRM is
backed by tough laws. In Canada and
Europe, on the other hand, copying for
private use is legal. So far.
CRIA (the Canadian Recording
Industry Association), the Canadian
counterpart to RIAA, the US lobbyist
for Big Media, would like to see a USstyle
DRM law, and is even offering to
(ahem!) help write it. A tough DRM law
was in fact introduced last year, but there
was an election and a change of government,
and the Conservatives are not as
hot on the issue as the Liberals were.
But now the plot thickens.
Some of Canada’s major recording
artists are denouncing CRIA, because
they say its policies are intended to favor
major recording labels, not the creators
of music. There are some A-list names
on the list, such as Avril Lavigne, Sarah
McLachlan and The Barenaked Ladies.
Says the CMCC, “We are the people
who actually create Canadian music.
Without us, there would be no music
for copyright laws to protect.” The
new association opposes legislation that
would mostly enable Big Media to sue
the very fans who love the music, as happens
regularly in the US, and as CRIA
itself has tried (unsuccessfully) to do in
Canada.
Amusingly enough, the CMCC,
probably deliberately, has patterned its
name after the Canadian Value of Music
Coalition. That was a CRIA program to
convince music downloaders that they
were hurting the very musicians they
love. The CMCC reply: “Suing our fans
is destructive and hypocritical, digital
locks are risky and counterproductive,
and cultural policy should support actual
Canadian artists.”
Did we mention that CRIA supports
big record labels? Many Canadian artists
are signed to smaller labels, such as
Errata
That’s the plural of erratum, as you
probably know even if you flunked Latin,
and it means “mistakes.”
You’d think errors in a magazine
would hide somewhere in the fine print,
where it is hard to see. In fact some of
them pass unseen because they are too
big. There was a major typo on the cover
of UHF No. 59. And you know the worst
part? we actually paid our prepress house
a bonus to do a last moment correction
on a last-moment mistake, and then we
didn’t see the even bigger one! Not until
it was too late at least.
But back to issue No. 75.
Did you see the review of the CEC
5400 integrated amplifier? Only there is
no 5400 amplifier. It was the CEC 5300,
as we would have known if we had looked
more closely at the front panel.
We hear the distributor got anxious
calls from dealers who wanted to know
when they would be getting the first
shipments of the “5400” amps. But at
least we were consistent. We called it
the 5400 every single time.
And another major error was right
on the cover. Again.
You did see it, didn’t you?
Cleaning up your CD player
Anthem, Aquarius and True North. Six
Canadian labels, including those three,
have pulled out of CRIA. Their letter
to CRIA says that, “We do not feel that
we can remain members given CRIA’s
decision to advocate solely on behalf of
the four major foreign multi-national
labels.”
There is another record company
group in Canada, the Canadian Independent
Record Production Association
(CIRPA). And that association has
picked up six more labels.
As for the Member of Parliament who
had piloted the failed DRM bill through
the last parliament, he was personally
defeated in the January election.
The Milty cleaning disc (shown on the previous page) has a series of fine
brushes to clean the lens of your CD or DVD player, without danger of damage.
We use ours once a month. See the insert for The Audiophile Store, which
begins on page 55.
ADVERTISERS
Almarro . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Applause Audio . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Artech Electronics. . . . . . . . . . 9, 13
ASW . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Cover 2
Atlas. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Audiomat . . . . . . . . . . . . . Cover 3
Audiophileboutique.com . . . . Cover 3
Audiophile Store. . . . . . . . . . 55-62
Audio Space . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
Audioville. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
Audiyo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
Bel Canto. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
BIS Audio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Blue Circle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
Castle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Charisma Audio . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
Diamond Groove . . . . . . . . . . . 74
Eichmann . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Europroducts International . . . 15, 17
Everest Audio . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Fine Audio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
Furutech . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
The Gramophone . . . . . . . . . . . 69
Hi Fi Fo Fum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Hifisupply.ca . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Justice Audio . . . . . . . . . . . Cover 4
Just May Audio. . . . . . . . . . Cover 2
MagZee. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
Marchand Electronics . . . . . . . . 12
Michell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Moon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Mutine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Cover 3
Planet of Sound . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
Roksan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Cover 4
Simaudio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Signature Audio . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
SR Acoustique . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Solid Link . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
Soundstage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Terra Speakers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Totem Acoustic . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
UHF Back Issues . . . . . . . . . . . 43
UHF Books . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4,51
Unity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
WBT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Cover 2
ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY Magazine
Gossip&News
Gossip&News
Feedback