LATEST ADDITIONS

Last week, <A HREF="http://www.tdk.com%20">TDK</A&gt; announced that it is introducing extended-capacity, 80-minute/700MB multimedia and music CD-R discs this July. The new discs add 50MB, or 6 minutes of stereo music capacity, to the conventional 74-minute/650MB CD-R disc. TDK says it is the first manufacturer to offer extended-capacity CD-Rs, and points out that it has been supplying recording studios with 80-minute CD-Rs for music-mastering applications since 1996.(<I>Stereophile</I>'s new 77+ minute <I>Bravo!</I> CD, featuring chamber music by Elgar and Mozart, for example, was mastered on a 700MB TDK CD-R.)

The advance of plasma-display technology speeds on, and the Pioneer PDP-501MX is at the front of the line. This is the first plasma monitor on sale in the United States that is capable of displaying high-definition images, making it the world's most advanced, commercially available product of this type.Squeezing almost 1 million pixels into even a 50" display (measured diagonally) is quite an accomplishment. As soon as I pulled the unit out of the box and set it in its unobtrusive tabletop stand, I connected it to Panasonic's high-definition tuner box and fed the monitor an over-the-air HDTV signal. Without so much as a hiccup, the set accepted the 1920<I>x</I>1080i signal and displayed a bright, clear, sharp picture that made me smile. All this from a <I>big</I>-screen set less than 4" thick!

<B>GINGER BAKER & THE DJQ2O: <I>Coward of the County</I></B><BR> Ginger Baker, drums; Ron Miles, trumpet; James Carter, baritone sax, bass clarinet; Fred Hess, tenor sax; Eric Gunnison, piano; Shamie Royston, organ; Todd Ayers, guitar; Glenn Taylor, pedal-steel guitar; Artie Moore, bass<BR>Atlantic 83168-2 (CD). 1999. Ginger Baker, Ron Miles, prods.; Danny Kopelson, eng. DDD. TT: 60:26<BR> Performance <B>****?</B><BR> Sonics <B>****</B>

Believe it or not, there are reportedly several "audiophiles" out there who still refuse to accept that an extremely expensive amplifier can justify its price. "For them, the very idea of a $20,000 pair of monoblocks must seem absolutely ridiculous," writes Wes Phillips. "All I can say is that they should steer clear of the Mark Levinson No.33H, or else risk having their tidy little hypotheses shattered into tiny little pieces." For the complete review, take a look at the latest equipment report to hit the Archives: <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com//amplificationreviews/115/">Mark Levinson No.33H monoblock power amplifier</A>.

It wasn't too long ago that rock band Pearl Jam set their lawyers after the dozens of independent websites pre-releasing pirated versions of the band's album <I>Yield</I>, hoping to curtail its availability on the Internet. How times change. On June 4, any consumer with access to the Internet and a <A HREF="http://www.real.com">RealNetworks</A&gt; G2 player will have the opportunity to visit the world's "ultimate listening posts" when the Red Hot Chili Peppers' new album, <I>Californication</I>, and Def Leppard's <I>Euphoria</I>, will be available in their entireties for streaming on the Web---four days prior to their official June 8 release.

S<I>tereophile</I> editor John Atkinson---arguably the high-end audio publishing industry's single most important figure, and certainly its intellectual nexus---has seen it all in his 23 years in the high-end audio industry. At HI-FI '99 in Chicago, <A HREF="http://www.audiocafe.com/">Audiocafe.com</A>'s Andrew Keen was able to pull JA away from his busy schedule for an in-depth interview about his views on the industry's current state of affairs---and on what's just over the horizon.

Providing another boost to the nascent DVD-Audio market, <A HREF="http://www.zoran.com">Zoran Corporation</A>, a provider of integrated circuits (ICs) and software for digital video and audio applications, announced last week the availability of a new DVD decoder IC chip, the <A HREF="http://www.vaddis.com">Vaddis IV</A>. Zoran says the chip is optimized for fourth-generation DVD players and will include integrated DVD-Audio decoding. According to the company, the new Vaddis IV decoder enables the design of flexible and advanced---yet affordable---new DVD players.