Neil Young has long since been a disciple for high quality music. He’s even released a 10 Blu-ray disc collection of 128 tracks, all presented in 24-bit/192 Khz stereo PCM state-of-the-art master quality sound.

Recently, Young filed papers with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, that indicate he is developing a high-resolution audio alternative to the MP3 format. Interested yet?

The story in Rollingstone says, according to the filed documents, Young applied for six trademarks last June: Ivanhoe, 21st Century Record Player, Earth Storage, Storage Shed, Thanks for Listening and SQS (Studio Quality Sound). Included in the filing is a description of the trademarks: “Online and retail store services featuring music and artistic performances; high resolution music downloadable from the internet; high resolutions discs featuring music and video; audio and video recording storage and playback.” The address on file corresponds to that of Vapor Records, Young’s label. (Young’s representatives declined Rolling Stone’s request for comment.)

Young faces about a year of paperwork before the government will register his trademarks. Last week, they were approved for publication in a public journal for 30 days, a step that allows competitors to challenge Young if they find his registration harmful. The journal is set to be published later this month; if the trademarks face no opposition or snags, Young must then file documents detailing how he intends to use the trademarks, which the government could register as early as the holidays, according to the filing schedule.

A press release issued last September by Penguin Group imprint Blue Rider Press, which is publishing Young’s upcoming memoir, may have revealed the working title of Young’s entire project. In addition to the memoir, says the release, “Young is also personally spearheading the development of Pono, a revolutionary new audio music system presenting the highest digital resolution possible, the studio quality sound that artists and producers heard when they created their original recordings. Young wants consumers to be able to take full advantage of Pono’s cloud-based libraries of recordings by their favorite artists and, with Pono, enjoy a convenient music listening experience that is superior in sound quality to anything ever presented.”

Such a service would allow music fans to download audio files that sound like the studio recordings of the past, as opposed to the über-compressed song files that are currently available at MP3 stores like iTunes and Amazon. (When reached for comment, a Penguin Group representative directed Rolling Stone back to Young’s publicist.)
Young has a history of paying close attention to audio quality. His 1968 debut LP was one of the first albums to be mixed with the short-lived Haeco-CSG technology, which improved the sound of stereo albums played on mono equipment. Young has also been heavily involved with the remixing and remastering of his catalog for years.

In the last year, the rocker has also been increasingly vocal about his frustration with the sound quality of digital music. On January 31st, during an appearance at the D: Dive into Media conference in California, Young proposed that “some rich guy” should create “a modern-day iPod for the 21st Century” featuring studio-quality resolution. “When I started making records, we had a hundred percent of the sound,” said Young. “And then you listen to it as an MP3 at the same volume – people leave the room. It hurts…It’s not that digital is bad or inferior. It’s that the way it’s being used is not sufficient to transfer the depth of the art.” According to Young, a typical download contains only five percent of the data that an original analog recording master offers, and the average studio-quality audio file requires roughly 30 minutes to download because of its uncompressed size.

Young also said that he met with Apple CEO Steve Jobs before his death last fall, and that the two discussed the possibility of developing a device similar to an iPod that could store roughly 30 studio-quality albums. “We were working on it,” said Young. “Steve Jobs was a pioneer of digital music. But when he went home, he listened to vinyl. And you’ve gotta believe that if he’d lived long enough, he would eventually have done what I’m trying to do.”

The Guardian reports that Apple is currently working on a new audio format that could allow the company to offer “high definition” audio via iTunes. The format would also integrate an “adaptive streaming” component that would allow music being accessed from iCloud and iTunes Match by portable devices to be automatically adapted to fit bandwidth or storage constraints.
Apple is working on a new audio file format that will offer “adaptive streaming” to provide high- or low-quality files to users of its iCloud service.

The new system would adjust itself to the bandwidth and storage available on the receiving device.

It is believed that Apple will use the new file type to upgrade its iTunes Match service, which allows users to re-download music from iCloud to their Apple devices.
According to the report’s source, Apple has asked one London music studio to prepare audio files in the new format, which would allow Apple to instantly and automatically improve the quality of iTunes Match content. The source is unclear, however, on whether Apple would transcode the higher-quality files on the fly to match a given bandwidth/hardware setup or if it would simply maintain several versions of the track at different qualities and serve the most appropriate one for a given situation.

Given the timing of Apple’s work, the source suggests that the company is likely preparing the new format for a demonstration at its iPad media event rumored for next Wednesday, March 7.

The new report comes less than a month after Neil Young revealed that he had worked with Steve Jobs on a high-definition music format for the iTunes Store but that “not much” had ended up happening with the effort. Apple has also recently begun a significant expansion of its Mastered for iTunes program. The initiative encourages recording professionals to utilize high-quality master recordings of songs and albums as the initial source material for iTunes Store submission, processing them using Apple’s guidelines and tools to achieve file compression allowing for the highest-quality sound available.

I suggest you select to auto import and eject first, to automatically retrieve track names, but the important part is clicking the Import Settings box.
This brings up a window with this appearance:

Select AIFF Encoder, Automatic, then click the Use Error Correction box. Using error correction will make the import process take a big longer, but will assure you get the most data off the CD.

Next choose Playback from the top menu. Make sure sound enhancer and sound check are not selected. This prevents iTunes from altering the quality of your music.
Then click OK and you are done! It’s that simple.
Windows:
Windows is exactly the same except you start off under the Edit menu and choose preferences, from there it is identical to the Mac Version
Once you have all of your CD’s ripped into iTunes, the possibilities are virtually endless to play them anywhere in your home.

Are you happy with the Roku you received this Christmas? Everyone I recommended a Roku to this past holiday has been happy with it. They all love the easy set up and that they can access lots of content from Netflix, Hulu Plus, HBO GO and Amazon Instant Video. It’s my go-to box for Netflix as it provides 1080P video and Dolby Digital Plus and it’s one of the few Amazon Instant Players that outputs Dolby Digital surround sound. If you’re looking for some basic tips on finding channels and setting up your Roku, there are good posts at the Roku Blog and GigaOM. So, here’s my list of Roku 2 tips.

Roku 2 XS
Get the Remote App for iOS or Android: Roku now provides a free remote control app to control its various Roku 2 and LT boxes. There’s two features I like in particular about the remote app. Number one is you can directly jump between channels without going back to the main menu. More importantly, you can use the app’s keyboard to perform searches or sign into a service for the first time. Finally, it’s always handy to have if you’ve lost your remote control.
Netflix Channel Extras: While you’re watching a title, press the down arrow to see the title name, episode name, length, year and rating (this also works in Amazon Instant Video) overlay on the screen. Also, while browsing titles on the grid, pressing the “*” key on the remote gives you the option to add or remove a title to your Instant Queue, rate a title or to jump to the search function.

Free Channels: One of the reasons you purchased a Roku was to save on money on cable and the Roku has a number of free content choices. Some of the free channels include Crackle, Chow (Cooking), Tech TV, TED talks, Newscaster, Wall Street Journal, CNBC, NBC News as well as number of religious ones. WSJ has a number of live programs throughout the day as well as a number of recorded features. The NBC News channel runs a few hours behind when the Nightly News is broadcast. However, while the channel is convenient for watching a portion of the nightly news, it puts each story into a separate clip requiring buffering and therefore a significant pause between segments. While both of these channels are free, they are supported by commercials. Roku’s Newscaster channel gives you access to variety of other news stations such as the BBC, ABC, CBS, Fox News and the Al Jazeera live stream.

Play Your Media with the USB Channel: The Roku 2 XS as well as the older XDS come with a USB port to attach a USB stick or drive. From there, one can play music, view photos or watch video files. Recently, Roku added support for MKV video files. An MKV is a wrapper or container file that can hold different types of video and audio. I used Handbrake to rip some DVDs using H.264 encoding into both the MKV and the M4V file containers (the Roku only supports H.264 video on the USB Channel). Despite the fact that both files use H.264, the M4V container provides quicker load times when you fast forward and rewind. Besides that, both containers support similar sets of features. It does not appear that the Roku supports chapter markers in either format. If you want to enjoy surround sound from your ripped DVDs, it’s best to chose “AC3 passthrough” when ripping the DVD in Handbrake.
For music, the Roku supports both MP3 and unprotected AAC files. It’s best to organize all of your music below a top level folder on the USB drive if you want to be able to play it or shuffle it all at once. There’s currently no support for playlists. Photos are pretty straightforward with support for JPG and PNG files.

Bandwidth: If you’re interested in what bit rate your Roku is streaming at, you can enable a debugging mode that will pop a informational message when a stream starts playing. To activate it, go to the home screen on the Roku. From the remote, enter the following key sequence:
Press Home 5 times
Presss FF 3 times (not the DPad but the >> key)
Press REWIND 2 times (not the DPad but the << key
For this to work right you have to hit the buttons fairly quickly with a pause of about a one second between presses. Not too quick though! When you hit the home button, you want to hear its sound effect before you hit a remote key again. It definitely takes some practice. When you are successful, a screen like the one below will appear. Select “Enable Playback debugging” to have see the streaming bit rate show up when you start a title.

Roku Debugging Bandwidth Screen
You can disable the debugging screen by entering the same sequence of keys on the remote and choosing the disable option. Note, that this debugging screen no longer works in Netflix as the new version uses adaptive bit rate streaming. However, for other services like Amazon Instant Video and HBO GO, it will tell you the bit rate of the video stream.

For one thing, people who use iTunes to store and archive their CD collection, and take care to change the audio quality to Apple Lossless, will be able to stream their collection to a wider range of products.

For Linn, where we’ve been advocating FLAC, yet supporting an unofficial version of ALAC, it means we no longer risk the wrath of Apple HQ for letting people listen to their music collections through our systems.

Linn DS has supported both FLAC and ALAC formats (amongst others) for many years because our customers wanted it and there was no justification for restricting playback.

Apples opens core

But what has prompted this sudden outbreak of sanity from Apple?

Without meaning to sound uncharitable, I reckon there’s a pure, commercial motive. And that is…24-bit.

As I reported from my visit with Neil Young, the momentum around 24-bit is growing. Artists want it. The music-loving public wants it. The majors see it as one last chance to re-monetise their back catalogues from the 50s, 60s and 70s.

Problem is, Apple owns the main route to the customer with iTunes.

So here’s the deal. The majors offer Apple the 24-bit catalogue. Apple wants the format to be ALAC for the sake of iTunes compatibility. The majors demand ALAC be open source, so that the good stuff can be enjoyed beyond the Apple World to the widest possible audience.

In other words, I believe this is an essential piece of the jigsaw that will see iTunes offering 24-bit music downloads in 2012.

This version of HBO GO is significant since it’s the first one actually built for a connected device. While HBO GO has been available on the Boxee and higher-end Samsung HDTVs, that version of the app is browser based. Despite the attractive browser interface, it’s always been challenging to navigate. The navigation on the Roku’s HBO GO app is seamless in comparison. The first time you start the app, you’re provided with a code you enter on the HBO website. After a minute, you’re all set!

HBO GO on the Roku is the first streaming service that actually told me that parental controls were disabled. The reminder is a good idea given some of the content on HBO. HBO is one of the few services that supports sub-accounts with different levels of parental controls.

Like most apps on the Roku, episodes for a series are displayed in a series of thumbnail tiles. However, compared to most Roku apps, the order of the episodes is reversed.

The UI is also smart enough to remember where you were in a particular episode and which episode in a series you had viewed last. It also works if you’ve been watching on a browser and then start again on the Roku. Within an episode, the replay button is enabled. However, when you fast forward or reverse, it does not present the series of thumbnails showing where you are. Netflix does this and it would be a handy enhancement for future versions.

As promised, HBO GO is streaming in high definition. Picture quality is good. It appears to be streaming at 3.5 MBps which delivers a 720P picture. This is better than the 2.5 MBps stream that Amazon Instant Video supplies for it’s 720P content on the Roku. There was little or no evidence of pixelization during action scenes or camera pans. This is where the picture stands out compared to the browser based version. It’s not as noticeable in still shots.

The audio is in stereo but is a big improvement! The sound is richer compared to what you hear in the browser based version of HBO GO. There’s good range and resolution to the audio as well as decent depth. There was no sign of closed captions in the app. In a future release, HBO is supposed to rollout 1080P and surround sound. I can’t wait.

For version 1.0, it’s a good start. HBO GO is yet another reason to get a Roku.

With Japanese broadcaster, NHK, looking to roll out a service in its homeland, around 2025, with a potential pixel count of 33 million – compared to 2 million – for plain old Full HD, it promises to be a major upgrade over existing images but there’s not much on the horizon in terms of a display to show them on although there are plans for public screenings of some of next years Olympics at various public venues across the globe, in the new format.

According to Christoph Dosch, Chairman of the Broadcasting Service Study Group, “UHDTV promises to bring about one of the greatest changes to audio-visual communications and broadcasting in recent decades. Technology is truly at the cusp of transforming how people experience audio-visual communications.”

“UHDTV will create an immersive experience for viewers and will generate a host of new business and marketing opportunities,” added ITU Secretary-General Hamadoun Touré.

See you in 15 years for the follow up to this one but 4320p sounds ok!

More trouble is on the horizon for Netflix. GigaOM says Vdio (Vee-dee-o), which allows users to “instantly watch the best in TV and movies, right now,” is hoping to scoop up those who recently abandoned Netflix.

Founded by Janus Friis, co-founder of Skype/Rdio/KaZaA, Vdio in is closed beta at the moment, and will first launch in the U.K.

Information about how much the service will cost, what kind of content Vdio will offer and when it plans to launch in the U.S. seem to be missing.

Pricing and content will be key, considering some of the recent gripes we’ve heard about Netflix. Refresh Vdio’s home page and you’ll get stills from TV shows such as Mad Men and Breaking Bad, as well as films including The Dark Knight, Enter the Dragon and The Shining.

Vdio’s home page also makes us think an active Facebook account is a requirement to use the service.

We’re guessing the Vdio people know what they are doing. Skype just sold to Microsoft for about $8.5 billion.

When GigaOM confirmed the launch of Vdio, reaction immediately started spreading online about whether Vdio will be a Netflix killer.

This phenomenon is especially true in the world of home control. (AKA Home Automation)
You can easily state that you don’t need a control system for your home, and I might agree. You may not even want one. However, I’ll tell you this: Owners of automated homes that have to move tell me they will never live without control again. Fact is, I hear this quite often. Need vs. want vs. necessity. You can wash dishes without that machine, but you probably won’t, right?

What is so useful about automation/control systems. How do people really use them?

1) Lighting Control – When your wife walks in the front door after dusk, the lights automatically come on in the mudroom, the foyer and the kitchen. She never enters a dark home. If something goes “bump” in the night, she presses the screen on her iPhone and the whole house blazes alight, inside and out.

2) Energy Management – When we arm the security system leaving for work in the morning, the house turns off all lights, all TVs and music zones, and sets the thermostats back by 8 degrees. It reverses the temperature on a timed response before we get home, or we can change and activate it via the Internet.

3) Audio/Video Control – Morning time. When the house system activates automatically, my favorite talk radio station starts playing in the master bath. Or when you hit the button at the top of the stairs (or on the iPhone again) the lights come on downstairs and the TV turns on to CNN. Nice way to start the day. The goodnight scene is similar. The phone or tablet controls the TVs, the home theater, the music selection and volume. Everything.

4) Shading Control – This ties in with energy management, but also mood setting, furnishing preservation and entertaining. Automated shades, curtains and plantation blinds help provide natural lighting in the morning, privacy in the evening and help protect your furniture, rugs and HVAC systems during the day. Think about how a sunflower turns it’s face to the sun as it crosses the sky; shading control helps the house shade itself as the sun traverses it’s path. Nice.

5) Security – When someone rings the doorbell, a camera image of the visitor pops up on your TVs, phones and tablets. Know before you go. The good night scene automatically arms the alarm system, and even locks the doors. When the smoke detectors activate, the control system turns on the lights in the hall and stairway, flashes the outside lights to help attract the fire department and shuts down the heating/air conditioning system so smoke doesn’t move around the house. Smart.

Home Control / Automation will grow by double digits each of the next 5 years.
These systems help people enjoy their home life a little bit more. Builders and real estate professionals know that these homes are more attractive to the potential home buyer. While theses systems are not free, they are no longer just for the rich and famous.
People with these systems use them every single day, and love them. Luxury becomes necessity.

Pandora has been gradually rolling out the new site over the last two months, but the new site is now officially up for all with the new look and new features, including the improved player control buttons on the interface (with the thumbs up and down buttons) and the ability to shuffle collections of stations.

One of the more interesting improvements is the music discovery additions. Click a “share” button to share stations via Twitter, Facebook, or email. Stations will have their own URLs and Pandora also says it is making discovering music even more intuitive and personalized.

Perhaps the best news, though: unlimited listening. You can now listen as much as you want for free. Although, for $36 a year you can upgrade to Pandora One and get higher quality streaming for noticeably improved sound.