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As the boundaries between audio, video, and information technologies continue to blur, so will the corporate boundaries between Sony Electronics' audio, video, and information-technology divisions. Last week, Sony announced the creation of a new organization that the company says integrates its A/V and IT companies into one overall "Consumer Electronics Group," or "CEG." Sony adds that the new structure combines the company's Consumer Products Marketing Group and its Personal Network Solutions Company into one organization. Fujio Nishida was named president of CEG; the new organization will become effective April 1.

One of the world's largest semiconductor manufacturers is making a move into digital audio. Texas Instruments announced March 16 that it has acquired Toccata Technology ApS, a small, privately held company based in Copenhagen, Denmark. Toccata is "one of the leading developers of digital audio amplifier technology and board solutions," according to a TI press release, and will become part of TI's Digital Speakers Business Unit, continuing to operate from Denmark.

In his essay "Let's Face the Music and Dance," John Marks, founder of John Marks Records, asks: "Does high-end audio have a future?" Of course it does, he says. But will it be one worth the price? Marks writes, "for most of its potential consumers, high-end audio is now a matter of sharply diminishing economic returns. A large incremental expenditure guarantees only a relatively modest, even marginal improvement in sound quality." How to forge ahead anyway? Marks offers his advice to our "dysfunctional" audio family.

Should Internet sales be subject to taxation? California's US Senator Diane Feinstein doesn't think so. Neither do most of her constituents in Silicon Valley, who are riding an unprecedented wave of prosperity as the growth of Internet commerce continues. Many folks outside Silicon Valley, especially traditional retailers, see no reason why e-commerce should be exempt from sales taxes.

Three-dimensional modeling, 4-pi anechoic chambers, and laser inteferometry were but a few of the industrial marvels revealed in early March to a group of Stereophile and Stereophile Guide to Home Theater scribes. The group convened Tuesday, March 7, at Revel headquarters in the massive Harman International complex in Northridge, California, for an inside view of the company's research, development, and manufacturing operations, organized and led by Madrigal president Mark Glazier. Madrigal is Harman's Middletown, Connecticut-based high-end operation, with the Proceed, Mark Levinson, and Revel lines under its jurisdiction.

It happens to most of us. You're tooling down the road, listening to the radio, and you hear some music that captures your interest. Wouldn't it be nice to be able to easily find out who the artist is and what label they record for without waiting for the announcer, so you can head to your favorite music outlet and buy the disc? But how about pushing a button and ordering the item right there on the spot—from the driver's seat?

One of the music industry's "big five" will soon begin offering its wares as digital downloads. Seagram, Ltd. chief executive Edgar Bronfman, speaking on Friday, March 3 at the Jupiter Consumer Online forum in New York, said his Universal Music Group will start selling music online this spring.