LATEST ADDITIONS

Concluding its six-year evaluation of Digital Audio Radio (DAR) systems, the <A HREF="http://www.cema.org">Consumer Electronics Manufacturers Association</A> (CEMA) filed its final report last month with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). The report, "Technical Evaluations of Digital Audio Radio Systems: Laboratory and Field Test Results, System Performance, Conclusions," is available to the public from the FCC and through CEMA's <A HREF="http://www.cemacity.org/works/pubs/files/dar.htm">website</A&gt;.

In a move sure to startle a few record retailers, English recording artists Massive Attack will make their much-anticipated new album, <i>Mezzanine</i>, available in its entirety on the Internet weeks before the May 12 in-store release date. The album will appear in stages over the course of two weeks via a <A HREF="http://www.virginrecords.com/massive_attack">special page</A> on <A HREF="http://www.virginrecords.com">Virgin Records America</A>'s web site.

You may have noticed recent news items about proposals to deregulate the electrical power industry. You may have received solicitations to sign on with some start-up utility you never heard of, promising 10% to 40% reductions in your electrical bill. The model for this deregulation---if it comes to pass---is the long-distance telephone industry.

The world used to be a simple place, where a record would sell only if it was big on the radio. These days, folks get their information about music from all over the map. Where do you get yours?

On March 12, <A HREF="http://ovonic.com.">Energy Conversion Devices, Inc.</A> announced that <A HREF="http://www.sony.com">Sony Corporation</A> has expanded its royalty-bearing license under ECD's proprietary phase-change rewritable optical-memory technology to include advanced technology for use in rewritable CD and DVD optical-memory products. Phase-change technology, invented by ECD, is used in PD and CD-RW rewritable optical-memory discs.

March 9, <A HREF="http://www.akm.com">AKM Semiconductor, Inc.</A> introduced the AK5392, a 24-bit stereo analog-to-digital (A/D) converter based on its proprietary dual-bit delta-sigma technology. The AK5392 reportedly achieves a dynamic range of 116dB, said to be a 15dB improvement over other single-chip alternatives.

In an announcement that could stun the neophyte custom CD compilation business and concurrently impact future prospects for the $12 billion music recording industry, <A HREF="http://www.supersonicboom.com/">superSonic BOOM</A> has signed an exclusive licensing agreement with Ergon Technology for a patented manufacturing process covering customized audio products. Like <A HREF="http://www.openmarket.com">Open Market</A>'s announcement last week that it had received patents from the US government for its e-commerce technology, superSonic's announcement raises more questions than it answers.