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The Club of Amsterdam



The Club of Amsterdam is an international think tank, which reflects our future: How we want to live, to communicate with each other and what tools, cities we need, how we want to commute and how culture or industries should develop. In brief: what we want our future to be.
The Club of Amsterdam provides a bridge between industry, education and science. We organise events, seminars and workshops.
http://www.clubofamsterdam.com


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Extra-Audionary

mp3PRO
To improve the sound quality of mp3 at lower bit rates, Coding Technologies has developed an enhancement technology that gives back the sound the high frequency components. The technology is called "Spectral Band Replication" (SBR). SBR is a very efficient method to generate the high frequency components of an audio signal.

Combining mp3 with the SBR enhancement technology generates an audio signal with high bandwidth at low bit rates. mp3PRO, the resulting audio format is composed out of two components, the mp3 part for the low frequencies and the SBR or "PRO" part for the high frequencies. Since the "PRO" part requires only a few kbps, the format could be done in a way that it is still compatible with the original mp3 format. This fact allows existing mp3 players to play mp3PRO files. They simply ignore the PRO part. The only requirement is that they also have to support sampling rates of 16, 22.5 and 24 kHz along with 32, 44.1 and 48 kHz. While all (mp3 standard compliant) software players fulfil this requirement, not all portable and CD/DVD players do. To learn whether your mp3 player is capable to play mp3PRO files, please check with its manual or manufacturer.

New players supporting mp3PRO technology will utilize both parts of the mp3PRO format to take full advantage of the "PRO" enhancement. mp3PRO players will still fully support mp3 since this is an important part of the new mp3PRO format. Thus you can continue to use your vast collection of mp3 files when upgrading to mp3PRO technology.
http://www.mp3prozone.com
Download THOMSON mp3PRO Player/Encoder
http://www.thomson-multimedia.com/gb/00/mp3.htm

GRM Tools
GRM Tools is the result of 50 years of cutting-edge research and experimentation in Paris, France, by the Groupe de Recherches Musicales de l'Institut National de l'Audiovisuel (Ina-GRM). Formed in 1958 by Pierre Schaeffer, François Bayle, Iannis Xenakis, Luc Ferrari, and others, GRM continued Pierre Schaeffer's work in musique concrète from the early 1950s.
Interesting tools for sound design:
http://www.grmtools.org

mp3.box
A great resource for everything related to mp3.
http://mp3.box.sk

Online music and video piracy

Digital Interactive Fingerprinting (DIF)
The PAN Network, the birthplace of online digital audio, has recently introduced a new service designed to detect and ultimately prevent online music and video piracy.

The core technology of the service is PAN's patent-pending system of Digital Interactive Fingerprinting (DIF). The system is designed to interact transparently and seamlessly with any MP3, RA, or WMA file as it is being downloaded from the internet to create a unique and virtually undetectable fingerprint. This fingerprint then provides the means to trace the identity of any person who downloads a copyrighted file and which subsequently appears on an unauthorized website, or is burned onto a CD for unauthorized distribution.

Ultimately, detection of unauthorized files on the internet will be automated by means of a dedicated search engine. The search engine constantly scans the internet (including P2P networks) for the presence of fingerprinted files, and will automatically alert the owner should any of their files be detected on an unauthorized web site.

PAN has also made available a suite of DIF management tools that enables music labels to maintain their catalog of files within the DIF system on a 24/7 basis. Anytime the label wants to check a suspicious file, PAN's "DIF-Scan" utility program allows them to check a file anywhere on the internet (or from a CD) for the presence of a fingerprint, and if found, provides the means to identify the person who downloaded the file.

According to PAN's Founder, Perry Leopold, "PAN's DIF System is designed to lift the veil of anonymity on the internet, which we believe is the root cause of online piracy. Once people come to realize that unauthorized redistribution of copyrighted works can be traced back to them personally, DIF should not only continue to provide a means to detect piracy, but will also provide a psychological disincentive to engage in piracy, and thereby prevent it. And at the of the day, prevention of piracy is the ultimate goal by which the success of any anti-theft system will be measured."

Established in 1981 as the world's first online service for the music industry, The PAN Network is the birthplace of online digital audio, as well as many other important innovations in widespread use on the internet.
http://www.pan.com/piracy

Music Piracy Report 2002
Piracy - a blight on culture, a drain on economies
Governments and the creative community need to fight back says Jay Berman, IFPI Chairman and CEO

< Piracy is the greatest threat facing the music industry today. IFPI and the international recording industry are responding proactively and aggressively to this US$4.3 billion worldwide problem.

Piracy is sometimes and mistakenly called a ‘victimless crime’.

It is not. The economic losses due to piracy are enormous and are felt throughout the music value chain. The victims include the artists whose creativity gets no reward; governments who lose hundreds of millions of tax revenues; economies that are deprived of new investment; consumers who get less diversity and less choice; and record producers who are forced to reduce their artist rosters because it is impossible to compete against theft.

IFPI and its affiliated bodies in nearly 50 countries devote a substantial amount of time and resources to fighting music piracy in all its forms. But crucially they depend on the support of governments and public authorities such as police, customs, prosecutors and the judiciary. >
Full report at:
http://www.ifpi.org/site-content/library/piracy2002.pdf

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TV and radio music via the Internet in Europe

Commission clears one-stop agreements for the licensing of TV and radio music via the Internet
An antitrust exemption granted by the European Commission will introduce more competition for European television and radio companies, which simultaneously broadcast music shows on the Internet. Under the new rules, broadcasters can get a single 'one-stop shop' licence from royalty collecting agencies to cover Internet broadcasts across most of the 18-nation European Economic Area (EEA) replacing the old system where they need to secure a license from each national copyright administration and collecting societies. The new system will also boost competition among the societies that collect the royalties on behalf of the music industry notably in terms of the fees they charge.

Commenting on the decision, Competition Commissioner Mario Monti said : " The creation of a legitimate marketplace for so-called simulcasting will benefit both consumers and rights-holders. Consumers will be able to access their favourite radio and/or TV music programmes from virtually anywhere in the world. At the same time, the framework put in place ensures that the rights-holders will be properly paid".
More at:
http://europa.eu.int/rapid/start/cgi/guesten.ksh?p_action.gettxt=gt&doc=IP/02/1436|0|RAPID&lg=EN&display=

Conferences & Events

FUTURE TV Workshop
October 25-31, 2002, Helsinki, Finland
http://www.sagas.de

Content Summit 02
November 6-8, 2002, Zurich, Switzerland
http://www.contentsummit.com

NAB European Radio Conference
November 11-13, 2002, Paris, France
http://www.nab.org

Doors of Perception
November 14-16, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
http://www.doorsofperception.com

Club of Amsterdam
The Convergence of Nanotechnology, Biotech and ICT
November 20, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
http://www.clubofamsterdam.com

Streaming Media Europe 2002
December 3-5, 2002, London, UK
http://www.streamingmediaeurope.co.uk

WEDELMUSIC 2002 - 2nd Int. Conf. on Web Delivery of Music
December 9-11, 2002, Darmstadt, Germany
http://www.wedelmusic.org/wedelmusic2002

Surround 2002
December 13-14, 2002 Beverly Hills, CA, USA
http://www.surroundpro.com

The Future of Music Policy Summit
January 5-7, 2003, Washington, D.C., USA
http://www.futureofmusic.org

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