LATEST ADDITIONS

This journal has seen a number of thoughtful ruminations on what it is that attracts us to music or to a given audio component, and how we should describe that attraction. The "Letters" pages have been filled by readers who have taken us to task for not adhering to rigorous scientific methods in the evaluation of components, those rigorous scientific methods usually being equated with double-blind listening. Other readers have praised the magazine for its stance that an educated listener in a familiar, relaxed environment will be more accurate in his or her assessment than an average of trained and untrained listeners in unfamiliar, stressful circumstances. Overall, sonic descriptions from diverse reviewers in different publications show a remarkable consensus of observation (not opinion).

After 53 years of publication, <I>Audio</I> magazine, owned and operated by Hachette Filipacchi Magazines, is closing its doors this week. Often rumored to be on the ropes, the magazine had recently attempted a new editorial direction and artistic facelift.

We <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/shownews.cgi?600">reported recently</A> that audio CD recorders are becoming hot items with consumers. How about with you?

At the moment, music fans who want to add to their collections by trolling the Internet are limited to bootlegs of dubious quality and legality, low-resolution shareware from innumerable unsigned bands, and teaser samples intended to help sell CDs by mail. Despite the subject's near-constant presence in the media, sales of downloadable music amounted to only about $1 million in 1999&mdash;as compared to total music sales of approximately $13 <I>billion</I>. The trickle of business is in large part due to reluctance by the music industry to open up its vaults because of a lack of copyright protection.

At this year's recent CES in Las Vegas, the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) announced the first 50 inductees into its Consumer Electronics Hall of Fame, chosen from the nominees by a panel of 11 media and industry professionals.

San Diego-based <A HREF="http://www.mp3.com/">MP3.com</A&gt;, a premier website for distributing the music of unsigned bands, has announced a new program called Beam-it, via which copies of commercial CDs will be stored at the site. The copies will be instantly available to customers who have purchased the music from affiliated online retailers, company officials said. About 40,000 CDs have already been archived on the site.

On January 14, anyone calling Naim Audio heard an Elgar recording, and visitors to the <A HREF="http://www.naim-audio.com">Naim website forum</A> learned the sad news that founder and managing director Julian Vereker had died. The company&mdash;indeed, British hi-fi as a whole&mdash;is mourning the loss of one of its brightest and strongest personalities.