LATEST ADDITIONS

Recently, we've seen the digital "horsepower" race accelerate with the arrival of digital sources and devices with 24-bit and 96kHz sampling capability. Much of this has been spurred by the 24/96 labels emblazoned on the newer DVD players&mdash;and, within the purer confines of the audio community, by high-end DACs with this same ability. Indeed, it's possible that the dCS Elgar DAC, near and dear to John Atkinson's heart and a perennial Class A selection in <I>Stereophile</I>'s "Recommended Components," performs so well with standard 16-bit/44.1kHz sources because its wider digital bandwidth permits greater linearity within the more restricted range of regular CDs.

MP3 audio files have quickly become the dominant format for downloading music over the Internet, and have just as quickly raised the ire of music labels and artists looking to protect their musical assets. For example, a petition signed by nearly 400 European recording artists (including Mstislav Rostropovich and Barbara Hendricks) was handed to the European Parliament last Tuesday by French composer Jean-Michel Jarre to protest lax copyright protections exacerbated by digital technology. The petition states, in part, "We want to use new digital technologies like the Internet to create and to deliver our music, but we will only feel confident doing so if we know that the laws are there to stop our works falling victim to pirates."

E<I>ditor's note: For months now, we've been reporting about the the problems and dilemmas created by audio formats such as MP3, which are often used to pirate and illegally distribute music over the Internet. Correspondent <A HREF="mailto:sazanka@yahoo.com">Leonid Korostyshevski</A> offers a decidedly unique Russian spin on the situation. His previous stories are <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/news/10131/">here</A&gt; and <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/news/10331/">here</A&gt;. Photos were taken last week by Leonid Korostyshevski</I>

High-end audio legend Mark Levinson has departed Cello Film and Music Systems, the company he founded 15 years ago, and has formed a new business, Red Rose Music. The new company will break all performance barriers with both affordable and cost-no-object audio equipment, Levinson stated last week, and is already registered as a new business with the state of New York.

<B>SANTIAGO DE MURCIA: <I>&#161;J&#225;caras!</I></B><BR> Paul O'Dette, Pat O'Brien, Steve Player, baroque guitars; Andrew Lawrence-King, harp, psaltery; Pedro Estevan, percussion<BR>Harmonia Mundi 907212 (CD). 1998. Robina G. Young, exec. prod.; John Hadden, prod., eng. DDD. TT: 78:21<BR> Performance <B>*****</B><BR> Sonics <B>*****</B>

Some form of high-resolution digital audio is right around the corner. Whether it's SACD, DVD-Audio, or both, will you be an early adopter, or will you wait until the dust settles?

We've all heard about "Internet time"---that fraction of the "normal" time interval for a similar activity to occur on the Internet. As if to put an exclamation point on the concept of Internet time, the <A HREF="http://www.narm.com">National Association of Recording Merchandisers</A> (NARM) plans to make audio history March 10 at the 1999 NARM Convention coming up in Las Vegas.