LATEST ADDITIONS

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?

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.

Can Jah Atkinson believe his ears? The PS Audio Power Plant P300 touched an audio nerve with JA, who interviewed the designer, <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com//interviews/222/">Paul McGowan: High-End Survivor</A>, for the May 2000 <I>Stereophile</I>. As a bonus, we include <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com//accessoryreviews/181/6">JA's follow-up</A> to Robert Deutsch's review of the P300, also from the May issue.

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.

The numbers are looking better for <A HREF="http://www.mp3.com/">MP3.com</A&gt;, the music-archiving site under <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/news/10657/">attack</A&gt; by the Recording Industries Association of America and its <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/news/10708/">allies</A&gt;. Despite the legal pressure, MP3.com has seen its revenues surge as the popularity of downloadable music continues to grow. On April 20, the San Diego&ndash;based company reported that its revenue increased to $17.5 million for the first quarter of 2000 compared to $666,000 for the same period a year earlier. MP3.com now has 10 million registered users, according to CEO Michael Robertson.