LATEST ADDITIONS

Electronics dealers may have a great autumn if they load up on dual-well CD recorders and DVD carousel changers, two of the hottest audio fashion items. Major manufacturers like <A HREF="http://www.kenwood.com/">Kenwood</A&gt;, <A HREF="http://www.onkyo.co.jp/">Onkyo</A&gt;, <A HREF="http://www.denon.com/">Denon,</A&gt;, and <A HREF="http://www.harman.com/">Harman/Kardon</A&gt; have all announced plans to deliver recorders and DVD changers by October, in time for the holiday season.

Last week, <A HREF="http://www.burr-brown.com">Burr-Brown Corporation</A> announced the development of the DSD1700, which the company says is its first Direct Stream Digital (DSD) audio digital-to-analog converter. According to Burr-Brown, the converter is designed for Sony's DSD technology, which is used in Super Audio CD players, professional DSD processors, and DSD mixing consoles.

The new DV-09 is Pioneer's first DVD player in its Elite line. More than simply an upscale version of a standard Pioneer DVD player, the DV-09 was built from the ground up to be a flagship product. It's also the first DVD player I've seen to have been certified under THX's DVD-player certification program (see sidebar, "THX DVD Players").

Former PolyGram Music Group president Roger Ames has been named to head the <A HREF="http://www.pathfinder.com/corp/wbmusic/index.html">Warner Music Group</A>, parent company <A HREF="http://www.pathfinder.com/corp/tw">Time Warner</A> announced August 16. Warner's music division, formerly the top domestic money-earner, has been stagnant in the past few years. Still one of the top five music conglomerates, it now trails Seagram's Universal Music, Bertelsmann AG, and Sony Music in total business, but retains the #2 spot in total number of albums sold, according to the <A HREF="http://www.wsj.com/"><I>Wall Street Journal</I></A>. Warner's foreign business is far weaker.

Ultra-high-resolution audio formats like the Super Audio Compact Disc and DVD-Audio are just around the corner, but music lovers' CD collections will never be obsolete if companies like dCS have anything to do with it. The British electronics company, noted for its high-quality D/A converters, has introduced a 24-bit/192Hz upconverter that is claimed to elevate the performance of ordinary 16/44.1 CD to near DVD-Audio level.

Last week <A HREF="http://www.microsoft.com">Microsoft</A&gt; entered the Internet audio fray by announcing the release of their <A HREF="http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia">Windows Media Technologies 4</A> platform, which the company claims introduces a "new standard for CD-quality audio" on the Internet. Windows Media includes Windows Media Player, Windows Media Services, Windows Media Tools, and Windows Media Audio SDK.

It's no secret that audio publications around the world have been shrinking or disappearing of late. John Atkinson writes in his September 1999 "As We See It" that although the trend has certainly affected <I>Stereophile</I>'s girth, steps have been taken to fatten the audiophile content of every issue. Read his analysis of the situation in <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com//asweseeit/135/">"Closer Together Covers?"</A>