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`53RD STORY of Levell printed in FULL format.
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`copyright 1984 Time Inc. All Rights Reserved
`Fortune
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`November 12, 1984, Domestic Edition
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`SECTION: TECHNOLOGY; Pg. 116
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`LENGTH: 558 words
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`HEADLINE: THE SEARCH FOR THE DIGITAL RECORDER
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`BYLINE: Brian Dumaine
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`BODY:
`THE COMPACT DIGITAL disk player is a sweet note in an otherwise flat home
`audio market_ Despite prices averaging about $500, the players sound so good to
`music lovers that sales of digital audio equipment should top $200 million
`worldwide this year. The machines, made by companies such as Sony and Philips,
`play 4.7-inch bard disks engraved by lasers with a musical computer code that
`the players translate back into music. But the machines can't record music
`digitally, and no one is selling a consumer product that can. such a product
`would appea1 to music buffs, and could conceivably revolutionize the way music
`is sold.
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`Now some audio experts believe a company that went public last year at 2
`cents a share has a shot at this market. CompuBonicB, based in Denver, has
`invented a digital machine tbat records music on ordinary magnetic disks. Some
`experts tbink it offers tbe same clarity and fidelity as laser-disk players.
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`CompuBonics is the brainchild of David Schwartz, 36, a computer engineer and
`amateur musician. His company has just begun to sell a $35,000 digital recorder
`to the professional market. One of tbe system's virtues is that it speeds up the
`process of editing sound. Music recorded digitally can be cued on a disk and
`called up alMost instantly, without all the rewinding necessary with tapes. The
`professiona1 model uses a hard disk, but next spring CompuBonicB plans to launch
`a $1,200 digLtal recorder for the borne that will make recordings on a floppy
`disk_
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`The techno1ogical hurdle was finding a way to pack a lot of music on a
`magnetic disk_ When translated into computer lingo, music is so data-intensive
`that one side of a typical floppy could hold only about four or five seconds'
`worth, and a hard disk about 20 minutes. The patented CompuBonicB system uses a
`kind of electronic shorthand. A long note from a flute, for example, or a few
`seconds of si1ence, becomes a computer symbol that takes up less room on a disk
`than the whole stretch of sound or silence. CompuBonicB has put an hour of music
`on a hard disk and three minutes -- which it hopes to raise to 45 -- on one side
`of a floppy.
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`Stephen Booth, who reviews audio equipment for Popular Mechanics, says, "I'm
`impressed with the technology." But the Japanese are skeptical that
`Compu60nicB can get all that music on a floppy disk without losing quality.
`Manufacturers such as Sony are leaning toward digital cassette tape for
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`1984 Time Inc., Fortune, November 12, 1984
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`Page 13
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`recording. Compusonics wants to win audiophiles before the Japanese decide to go
`with digital tape. To make its floppy disks the standard, the company plans to
`license the technology cheaply to other manufacturers. Next year McIntosh
`Laboratory Inc., a manufacturer of high-quality amplifiers, will build floppy
`disk recorders based on Compusonics' technology.
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`If the technology does take hold, future applications could be dazzling.
`compuBonics is talking to AT&T about setting up a service that would enable
`record companies to sell direct to consumers over the telephone. Symphonies,
`ordered by credit card, could travel digitally over phone lines into homes to be
`recorded by CompuBonicB' machine. Movies, which can also be recorded digitally,
`might be sent the same way. Enough speculators have been taken with these
`prospects to push Compusonics' stock up 525% to a recent price of 12 1/2 cents.
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`GRAPHIC: Picture, Schwartz with floppy disk and recorder, MICHAEL SIMPSON
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`LANGUAGE: ENGLISH
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