LATEST ADDITIONS

One might think that the publisher of "The Largest Marketplace in the World for Audiophile Equipment" would have a vested interest in encouraging trading activity among his readers. One would think that such a publisher might take a neutral stance regarding fluctuations in the world market for used equipment. One would think that he would credit his readers with sufficient intelligence to decide for themselves whether any specific purchase, sale, or trade was a good deal.

<I>Caveat: This article is written by a non-audiophile. I own and listen to several thousand recordings through about $2500 worth of a rather motley assortment of audio components. Though very well informed musically, and a disciplined listener, Audiophilia remains for me a storied land. Various desultory discussions with Larry Archibald and John Atkinson, some going back almost two years, about the possibly refreshing, certainly outr&#233; (for these pages) outlook of a certified Audio Ignoramus, have finally borne astringent fruit in this diversion of an article.</I>

The technology exists to create high-end audio programming that could finally solve the problem audiophiles have had with FM radio for years. But would you be interested enough to buy the equipment and/or pay for the service?

MP3-formatted audio files are considered to be the most popular streaming technology on the Internet, but the major record labels have so far shunned the format, which doesn't offer as much security and pay-per-download options as they'd like. Several announcements last week coincided with the <A HREF="http://www.webnoize.com">WebNoize</A&gt; conference in Los Angeles and revealed what a few of the labels are thinking.

Internet audio continues to expand. Last week, at the first WebNoize conference, held in Los Angeles, <A HREF="http://www.jamtv.com/">JamTV/Rolling Stone Network</A> and <A HREF="http://www.real.com/">RealNetworks, Inc.</A> announced the debut of <A HREF="http://www.rsradio.com/">Rolling Stone Radio</A>, a new Internet audio service offering music in several genres. Rock star David Bowie announced that he would serve as a disc jockey for the new venture. <A HREF="http://www.amazon.com">Amazon.com</A&gt; has also signed on to participate as a music retailer.

<B>VARIOUS ARTISTS: <I>Los Super Seven</I></B><BR> Radv/RCA Nashville 67689-2 (CD). 1998. Dan Goodman, exec. prod.; Steve Berlin, prod.; Dave McNair, eng.; Fred Rennert, Steve Gamberoni, asst. engs. AAD? TT: 41:36<BR> Performance <B>****?</B><BR> Sonics <B>****</B>