Skype founders have opened Rdio (pronounced "AR-dee-oh"), a new digital music service, selling access to over 5 million songs for $4.99 to $9.99 a month. Rather than taking up valuable gig space on consumers' local media servers, they are banking on the convenience factor by providing collections that reside on Rdio's remote servers. "The whole download model is going away", says Janus Friis, Skype's co-founder. To differentiate in an already crowded field, Rdio offers social features: consumers can read each other's reviews, browse other people's collections and tap into their favorite bands' listening habits. Will media servers and cloud services coexist? What challenges do these digital services present to your custom installation business?

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Cary Audio Design has released a new stereo power amplifier that looks like something that came out of Dr. Frankenstein’s laboratory—in a good way, of course. The CAD 120S MKII’s new circuit designs yield significant sonic improvements from its predecessor, the CAD 120S, resulting in increased dynamics, wider soundstage, greater depth, finer resolution of detail and improved micro-dynamics.

Any customer that is looking to purchase any of Linn’s Klimax, Akurate or Majik products will get a free upgrade anytime between June 17 through August 17th. This promotion allows Linn owners to get more performance on their systems for less.

For customers who own older Linn products, this is their chance to upgrade their existing Linn systems with the following:

The BDP-1 is a new digital music player, created by Bryston. The company claims it is difficult to categorize the player because of its unique set of features.

The BDP-1 gives music aficionados the ability to listen to their library of high-resolution files (resolutions of up to 24-bit/192kHz are supported) through a USB storage device, which is directly connected via standard USB cable or thumb drive to the BDP-1 digital music player.

CLIMATE is a new line of outdoor all-weather speakers by Monitor Audio. The range is made up of three two-way satellites (the CL50, CL60 and CL80) that have 5 to 8-inch drivers and a 1” CCAM tweeter. There is also a fourth all-weather monitor, the CL60-T2, which is a single stereo 6” driver design that features dual 1” CCAM tweeters.

Each CLIMATE cabines has smart weather-proof aluminum grills, and can be mounted to a rugged bracket that is deigned to rotate 180 degrees vertically, or horizontally.

Professional musician and founder of Audio One, David Frangioni, has developed and launched a new line of in-wall and in-ceiling speakers for the audio market. Frangioni wanted to create great sound within the mid-price range, which he felt were lacking.

Frangioni is an expert in A/V technology and recording. During the development of these speakers, his goal was to create a high-performance, musical-sounding speaker that can play loud without distortion. Their high-sensitivity is ideal for multi-room systems.

As of late, Bowers & Wilkins has been tapping into the automotive market, which is why the company is sponsoring the FAZZT Race Team at the 2010 Indianapolis 500. The Indianapolis 500, or “Indy” 500, is one of the most prestigious racing events, and the highlight of the IZOD IndyCar calendar.

More recently, Bowers & Wilkins partnered with Jaguar Cars to be the premium sound system provider for the entire line of Jaguar vehicles. Both brands share the commitment to quality and performance in innovation, technology, passion and research.

 
Remote Technologies Inc. (RTI) is ready to showcase several new products at InfoComm this year.  Here are a few things you can expect to see at Booth C6036:

RK-10 In-Wall Controller
This in-wall controller offers a 10.2-inch TFT widescreen LCD touchscreen and runs on Windows Embedded Standard OS with an Intel Atom processor, which allows for multitasking, web browsing, document viewing and more. The user interface is customizable via RTI’s Integration Designer software.