LATEST ADDITIONS

Media conglomerate <A HREF="http://www.viacom.com">Viacom</A&gt;, parent company of <A HREF="http://blockbuster.com"&gt; Blockbuster Music</A>, has reportedly put the ailing chain on the auction block. Most likely buyer is Torrance, California-based music retailer <A HREF="http://wherehouse.com">Wherehouse Entertainment, Inc.</A>, which has 220 stores of its own, primarily on the West Coast. On Wednesday, May 13, Reuters news service reported that Wherehouse had tendered an offer of $200 million for Blockbuster. Wherehouse has been in intermittent discussions for several months with Viacom.

Author and television producer Howard J. Blumenthal has completed his Jazz and World Music <I>CD Listener's Guides</I>, the first two volumes in a four-volume series. The publications include brief biographies of the top artists in each genre, arranged alphabetically, and hundreds of short reviews of the discs the author considers essential.

I've never heard a pair of the Italian Sonus Faber speakers I didn't like. What I've never liked was the US price: too high. And then you have to put them on costly stands. Plus, you're paying a premium for the magnificent woodworking and exquisite design&mdash;something I wasn't into, since I live with my stereo in a basement office/workshop/listening room some (who shall remain nameless) refer to as the "habitat for inhumanity."

Maybe it doesn't really matter how much music you have if you've got those three great albums that do it for you every time, but some folks just can't stop collecting. How about you?

The world&#198;s first DVD-Audio single will soon be out from the rock group Full on the Mouth. "People Mover" is a track from the group&#198;s forthcoming album, <I>Collide</I>. "We felt a 5.1 surround-sound mix would be a great medium to showcase the capabilities and technology of DVD and the electronic elements of Full on the Mouth,'' said Charlie Lico, chief executive officer of the band&#198;s label, Pioneer Music Group, which is a subsidiary of <A HREF="http://www.pioneerusa.com"&gt; Pioneer Electronic Corporation.</A>

Several manufacturers will be demonstrating state-of-the-art audio products at <A HREF="http://www.hifishow.com">HI-FI '98</A>---some of which have never been seen by the public before.

On Tuesday, May 5, beleaguered <A HREF="http://www.carver.com">Carver</A&gt; announced that it had received a financial transfusion of almost $400,000 and that it would make a move into direct marketing in an attempt to bolster flagging sales. The Woodinville, Washingon-based company announced in a press release that it "had closed a sale of 3,000,000 shares of restricted Common Stock of the Company to one of its preferred shareholders, Renwick Special Situations Fund, L.P., for $375,000, or $0.125 per share."