LATEST ADDITIONS

It's been an up-and-down week for consumer-electronics companies, as revealed by recent earnings reports surfacing around the globe. First, the bad news: <A HREF="http://www.sony.com">Sony</A&gt; reports that its profits fell 32% in the latest fiscal year, and cites the strong yen for depressing the value of the consumer-electronics and entertainment company's overseas earnings.

Progress toward a working digital radio technology took a big step forward in April with the addition of <A HREF="http://http://www.lowpassprototype.com/">Lowpass Prototype Inc.</A> to the development team. According to an April 27 press release, <A HREF="http://www.usadr.com/">USA Digital Radio, Inc.</A>, a privately held digital radio technology company owned by the nation's largest radio broadcasters, has added the manufacturer of radio-frequency systems for radio and television transmission to its coalition to develop and commercialize digital AM and FM radio.

Remember the Ampzilla? Are there stranger audio product names out there? What are they?

Many "Greatest Composers of the 20th Century" lists would include Copland, Gershwin, et al, but could also include Roy Orbison, Lennon-McCartney, and Scott Joplin. Who is <I>your</I> favorite?

The Napster saga continues. As <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/news/10725/">reported last week</A>, software maker <A HREF="http://www.napster.com">Napster</A&gt; and several colleges were looking at a likely court battle, instigated by music group Metallica and others attempting to prevent their songs from being distributed via MP3 audio files without official consent or payment of royalties. After Metallica announced its suit, rapper Dr. Dre also jumped in, giving Napster until last Friday to remove links to his work.

The healthy trend for the audio market continues: the <A HREF="http://www.ce.org">Consumer Electronics Association</A> reported last week that revenues from factory shipments of audio products to dealers this February increased by 8% over last February, to a total of $542 million. "The fantastic sales in February spurred the year-to-date total for audio sales to more than $1 billion; a 6% increase over the first two months of 1999," said the CEA.

The world's two largest and most active music clubs may become one if preliminary talks between their parent companies bear fruit. <A HREF="http://www.timewarner.com/">Time Warner Inc.</A> and Germany's <A HREF="http://www.bertelsmann.de">Bertelsmann AG</A> have conducted discussions with that outcome in mind, according to several reports appearing in late April.