News

Retail prices of compact discs are likely to drop in the coming months, thanks to a Federal Trade Commission action ending an industry-wide price-support policy begun five years ago. On May 10, the FTC announced that it had reached an agreement with the "Big Five" of the music business—Time Warner Inc.'s Warner Music, Seagram Ltd.'s Universal Music, Sony Music Entertainment, BMG Entertainment, and EMI Group PLC—that will effectively end the practice of "minimum advertised pricing" (MAP) instituted as a response to music-retailing price wars in the mid-1990s. Under MAP, retailers were forbidden to advertise CDs below an established minimum, at the risk of losing millions of promotional dollars from the record labels.

Music file–sharing service Napster Inc. appears to be losing its fight against the Record Industry Association of America. On May 8, judge Marilyn Hall Patel of the US District Court in Northern California rejected two of Napster's key defenses: that it is a "mere conduit" of information, like a telephone network; and that it had made serious efforts to prevent "repeat offenders" from using the site. Telephone companies, Internet service providers, and other types of information services are exempt by law from being responsible for the information transmitted over their systems, provided they make reasonable attempts to control abuses. Napster doesn't qualify on either count, Judge Patel found.

The entertainment industry's worst worry—copyright infringement—just got a lot worse. A consortium of 12 major high-technology companies has been organized to promote a rewritable DVD technology developed by the Pioneer Electronics Corporation, according to a May 9 press release from Tokyo.

MP3 may be under constant attack by audiophiles, and by music-industry attorneys in the courts, but the format shows no indication of disappearing. Santa Clara, CA–based S3, maker of the Rio portable audio player, has reason to believe that MP3 has plenty of growth potential. The company is going after licensees for the Rio to make knockoffs, and has plans to produce Rio-type players for home and car audio this summer.

Bothered by bounce? Jonathan Scull offers some solutions for turntable owners with problem floors in "Fine Tunes" No.20. He also describes how impoverished audiophiles can make their own low-cost anti-vibration shelves. Stereophile readers respond with their own experiences—and a warning.

Jonathan Scull thinks he has uncoverd the hot audiophile topic for the new millennium—e-commerce. He lays out the situation in "Fine Tunes" #19. Find out what various manufacturers are up to, and why.

The roller-coaster fortunes of MP3.com took a downturn April 28, when US district judge Jed S. Rakoff found in favor of the Recording Industry Association of America in its copyright-violation suit against Internet music site MP3.com. Investors in the once–high-flying startup immediately began unloading shares of the company's stock, which had dropped 40% by the end of the trading day.