Technology Sony's immersive 360 Reality Audio is coming to Amazon Music

Amazon's newest addition to its smart speaker lineup, the Echo Studio, doesn't only offer higher quality audio than its brethren. It also supports new audio technologies like Dolby Atmos and Sony's 360 Reality Audio for an immersive listening experience. To coincide with the launch of the speaker, Sony has announced that 360 Reality Audio content will soon be available to stream through Amazon Music HD.

The 360 Reality Audio format uses "object-based spatial audio technology" which maps out different types of sounds such as vocals or instruments with positional information. This means that listeners feel immersed within the sounds, with a concert-like experience from home speakers or headphones. We were impressed by a demo of the technology at CES this year, although we're yet to see how the system works in the real world.

Amazon's new Echo Studio promises immersive audio for $200

Just as earlier reports suggested, Amazon revealed yet another updated version of its Echo smart speaker at a press conference in Seattle today. The big difference? Its focus on high-quality audio. Unlike earlier Echo models, which largely prioritized smarts over sound quality, Amazon's new Echo Studio aims to deliver immersive, 3D audio (with help fro Dolby Atmos), all meant to help it compete more capably with competitors like Sonos. "It is"It is the most innovative speaker we've ever built," Amazon said in its self-referential live coverage.

360 Reality Audio is an ambitious attempt to create a new immersive music format designed to be streamed over mobile music streaming services and played through compatible headphones. However, it also works through speakers, from complex rigs to one-box speakers that we're pretty sure Sony is

And now Sony is pushing 360 Reality Audio . During a brief FB chat with a close friend in the UK, he The Sony 360 Reality Audio promotional video located at the very top of their page tries to distinguish their object oriented “virtual speaker” approach from traditional stereo and even 5.1|7.1 surround.

As well as offering content via Amazon Music, Sony is also working on its own ecosystem of products based around 360 Reality Audio including headphones which are calibrated specifically to your ears using a smartphone app and speakers like the prototype Reality Audio speaker shown off at CES. It is also working on tools for the creation side of music production, presumably including microphones and other equipment.

The 360 Reality Audio content will be available later this year on Amazon Echo Studio devices in the US, UK, Germany and Japan.

The heirs of Prince get along with Sony Music to release 35 albums

Sony has obtained the rights of 35 albums already out of Prince, of which twelve will be reissued from 2021, after an agreement with his brothers and sisters.

© STR / AFP Prince's heirs get along with Sony Music to release 35

albums The Sony Music label announced on Wednesday that it has reached an agreement with the heirs of the singer Prince to bring out most of his musical repertoire, the most recent attempt to commercialize the legacy of the American legend of pop. Since the sudden disappearance of the singer in April 2016 , his heirs - his siblings - have therefore agreed with the three largest record companies, Sony, Universal and Warner. Yet, during his lifetime, the artist did not hide his criticism of this industry.

35 albums already out. "This distribution contract" concerns "35 Prince albums already released," says Sony. "This contract takes effect today with 19 albums released between 1995 and 2010," continues the record company, a period when Prince had separated from his label, Warner, and released his music independently. From 2021, Sony will also get the rights of twelve other albums, like Controversy , 1999 or Around the World in a Day . But Purple Rain, 's most famous album of the Minneapolis superstar, is excluded from this contract. "Sony Music is honored to play a role in keeping Prince's music alive and accessible to generations of long-time listeners and future fans," said Richard Story, president of the label.

Enemy of the music industry. "An authentic and visionary artist, Prince has changed the world with his music, bringing love, joy and inspiration to millions of fans," he said. Prince was yet an sworn enemy of the music industry and its conventions. In the mid-1990s, he slammed Warner's door before showing himself with the word "slave" written on the cheek. He also swapped his name for an unpronounceable symbol, to prevent Warner from controlling his extraordinary production. At the end of her life, the star was nevertheless reconciled with the label. In February 2017, another record company, Universal, had announced that it had acquired the rights to the unpublished works by Prince since the mid-1990s, a contract declared null and void a few months later by the American justice.