The Music Experience - Thoughts on Tidal, Spotify and our own relationship with music

Why did Apple destroy the iTunes interface by removing Cover Flow? What makes Spotify successful? Why did Beyoncé's husband bought TIDAL? Why did record stores closed? Why did some folks decide they had enough and went back to vinyl? Will High-Resolution Audio (HRA) make a difference?

Pioneer Home Entertainment USA announced two new Pioneer Elite home theater receivers that will meet the needs of custom installers, and two new consumer home theater receivers. All models feature HDCP 2.2 compliance, HDMI 2.0, built-in Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, DSD file playback and more. The 7.2 models are able to decode and play back Dolby Atmos content.

While consumers increasingly use new music streaming services, they also want AM/FM radio to remain the same. According to a new research by Ipsos Research, over 9 in 10 want the way they operate their car radio to remain unchanged, and would not want it changed into a dashboard app. The research also found that, in the car, CD usage is over three times that of any other digital music service.

With an impressive design and combining aptX Bluetooth wireless audio for the first time in a portable speaker featuring electrostatic technology, BenQ’s eVolo is one of the most impressive proposals in this booming market. eVolo also signals BenQ’s entrance in the personal audio market segment.

Microchip announced Spotify Connect support in its JukeBlox system-on-a-chip (SoC) and Software Design Kit (SDK) for networked audio platform, releasing a new media module to support Spotify’s streaming service. This release extends support to more than 8 million audio products based on Microchip’s network audio processors.

Do you remember when radio was a primary sound source on any home stereo system? When was the last time you shopped for a new radio tuner? Chances are the last radio tuner you bought came with your car or integrated receiver amplifier. Nevertheless, radio broadcasting is still one of the world’s most important and popular media services, mostly because it’s free, it’s easy to find something interesting to listen to, and it works.