This year, everything changes
     The Festival du Son et de l'Image has been chugging along for nearly two decades, with the same name, pretty much the same orientation, and (except for the very first one in 1984) the same venue. This year all of this stuff is different.
     Start with the name, and for that matter the logo. Yes, it's still called Festival Son & Image, but note the subtitle: The Home Entertainment and Electronics Show. And also note the photos that accompany the logo. What they show, clockwise from upper left, is home theatre, computer games, cellular phones, and digital photography. Audio can be found in the description, and only in the description.
     The ambition of show organizer Marie-Christine Prin, who has brought some partners on board this year, is to make the Montreal show a sort of mini-CES, catering to the broadest possible range of consumer electronics products.
     We have to report that some of the show's traditional high end supporters, the ones trafficking in hi-fi (remember hi-fi?) were horrified. Were they going to see a whole lot of geeky teenagers with cargo pants and baseball caps twisted sideways, asking where they can plug in their iPods? Some of the former exhibitors who expressed the biggest doubts came back anyway. Some are waiting it out. And that includes UHF. For the first time in many years we did not do the usual deal to get our own room at the show. Instead, we set up a virtual room, with some of what you would expect to see in a physical UHF room, but having no connection with the Festival. We will be there, but strictly as journalists.
     Of course we were doubtful about the new orientation as well. What drew the biggest laugh was the Festival's ambition to get Apple Computer, maker of the ubiquitous iPod, to come to the show. Yeah, right! Apple stays away from some Mac-oriented shows! Well, we apologize. Apple Canada is in fact one of the exhibitors.
     So is Sony, though not Microsoft, nor any of the big digital photo companies, such as Canon or Nikon. Nokia and Research in Motion are not listed either.
     The venue has changed as well, and that might or might not be a good thing.
     Since...oh, about forever, the show had been at the Delta hotel downtown. It was a good place for a hi-fi show. Originally built to be a condo tower, it had concrete walls, and its non rectangular shapes were acoustically ideal. Not so good was access for loading and unloading. Nor were there enough large salons for major exhibits. For years the show had spilled out into adjacent hotels, but this was a pain for both exhibitors and visitors.
     So now the show has moved to the Centre Sheraton, shown at left. It's still downtown, it's still near the Métro, and this time everyone is in the same building. Not so good is that, unlike at the Delta, all the hotel rooms (where the high end exhibits will be), are the same size. For us, there could be no negotiating a larger room. And information on those rooms was so late in coming that well before it arrived we decided to cancel our participation. Whether we will ever return as exhibitors remains to be seen.

UHF's coverage
     Having our own room at the Festival kept us really, really busy, and this year we will have much more time to tour the show. We will be doing our daily reports, with text and photos, which you can get to by clicking the links at upper left. And of course there will be a major report in our next issue, which is due out on May 12th. In the meantime, don't forget to visit our virtual room. Unlike the others, it remains open through April 15th.
     We've always enjoyed the Montreal show, and our hopes ride with its organizers. Long may it continue. See you there, possibly.

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