LATEST ADDITIONS

Pauline Oliveros calls it "deep listening"—a way to pay attention to the sensual qualities of sound itself. Welcome to a world of music that defies categorization, that invites a listener to soak slowly into a deep and otherworldly zone. This music goes by many names: ambient, spacemusic, electronica, sacred music, tribal/trance. Alas, you'll often find it hiding in the New Age section. Unlike some fluffier New Age fare, good ambient albums can explore the deeper, more solitary spaces. At its best, ambient music can sensitize you to sound in unique ways. It can enlarge your listening space to cavernous dimensions, paint hallucinogenic sonic landscapes, summon primordial forces, or enshroud you in clouds of diffuse vapor.

<B>MOZART: <I>Cos&#236; fan tutte</I></B><BR> V&#233;ronique Gens, Fiordiligi; Bernarda Fink, Dorabella; Werner G&#252;ra, Ferrando; Marcel Boone, Guglielmo; Pietro Spagnoli; Graciela Oddone, Despina; K&#246;lner Kammerchor, Concerto K&#246;ln, Ren&#233; Jacobs<BR> Harmonia Mundi 951663.65 (3 CDs). 1999. Barbara Valentin, artistic dir.; Mark Hohn, eng. DDD. TT: 3:21:09<BR> Performance <B>*****</B><BR> Sonics *****</B>

So where and on exactly what should you plunk your precious audiophile components when you get them home? And why even bother?

Audiophile labels spend a good deal of effort trying to improve the transfer of music from the master tape to CD, DVD, or LP. Is this important to you?

The Secure Digital Music Initiative (<A HREF="http://sdmi.org/">SDMI</A&gt;) appears to be the antidote to many a record executive's worst audio poison: legions of young music fans downloading digital audio files off the Internet and passing them around with no regard to copyright restrictions. But what might be the answer to some companies' prayers could prove to be the Big Brother nightmare feared by others.

Yet another major music company has joined the digital downloading stampede, in the wake of the Secure Digital Music Initiative's (<A HREF="http://www.sdmi.org/">SDMI</A&gt;) recent progress toward formulating copyright standards. On July 19, <A HREF="http://www.unimusic.com/">Universal Music Group</A> announced its intention to make its titles available for downloading to the coming generation of portable audio players. New devices from Diamond Multimedia, Toshiba, and Panasonic&mdash;all expected to hit the market by the winter holiday season&mdash;will play encrypted tunes from Universal and other big labels.

The age of digital music downloads has begun in earnest. On July 20, <A HREF="http://www.emigroup.com/">EMI Recorded Music</A> announced that it has signed a deal with <A HREF="http://www.digitalon-demand.com/">Digital On-Demand</A> and its subsidiary, RedDotNet Inc., to make the EMI catalog available for downloading to kiosks in music stores. The kiosks will be equipped with CD "burners" where customers can copy EMI recordings not in stock in the stores. They will also be able to print out the original cover art and liner notes. Discs can be copied at high speed in 5 to 15 minutes using RedDotNet's technology, the announcement noted.