Busta Rhymes

As you can see Busta Rhymes is on the cover. We can't be more pleased to have him on the March issue - especially so, knowing that he has been a fan of the magazine for some time. We don't mean to make a big deal out of it, but he knew about Car Audio before the world knew him as a member of the Leaders of the New School. Of course, now it would be safe to say the whole world knows who Busta Rhymes is while we continue to make our way into world consciousness. In any case, we are honored! And he has helped further our insight into the role that car audio plays in the music industry. That is, every musician, producer that we've talked to uses their sound systems to check and reference their music while in the development stages. All these years of wondering have been laid to rest, and new legitimacy has been added to the purpose of car audio. It really is all about sound quality. At least for musicians car audio is a tool as well as a means of entertainment. From the recording studio to the car, back to the studio, then to the consumer! At least that's how it seems to be in hip-hop. We have not confirmed this in all the other genres, but we have our sights set on some other names in the music business. We hope to have their opinions and insights too.

Spring is just around the corner and as I sit in this Southern California office in the middle of December writing this the little bit of snow that capped the tip of distant mountains has melted away under the hot summer-like sun. I am not trying to rub anything in. I was looking forward to an early season of snowboarding, and spending some time driving the curves up the mountains. For me, there's nothing like going on a trip and listening to my favorite tunes. Sometimes we are very caught up in car audio and treat it exclusively as a sport, a competition, a technical hurdle, or what have you. Or as I wrote above, it can turn into a tool for improving personal music projects. Now and again it's good to remember that the gear we spend so much time and money on is there to give us pleasure. In the end, it's all there to serve the music, and the music serves the soul. Of course, it's difficult to derive pleasure in something when you have components sitting in your garage waiting to be installed! I admit that I have yet to complete work on my own vehicle. So for the time being, I'm stuck with some equipment that I would love to swap out. Maybe after the first of the year, after I receive a few more nice electonic gifts.

Speaking of getting gifts: at issue: non-copyable and/or non-playable CD's about to hit the market; it is going to happen. The fall of Napster (or should we say the "force-out" by the recording industry) is ushering in the strict development of two things: 1) Record companies do not want you putting your CD's into the computer to play or burn, and ultimately to upload to the Net. 2) On the backside of all that, the music industry giants are joining together to produce Web sites that replace Napster, at a price.