LATEST ADDITIONS

Last week, satellite-to-car radio broadcaster <A HREF="http://www.cdradio.com/">CD Radio</A> announced an agreement with mobile electronics manufacturer <A HREF="http://www.alpine1.com/">Alpine Electronics</A> for the design and development of satellite radio receivers. Under the terms of the agreement, Alpine says it will design and develop three-band (AM/FM/CD Radio) audio receivers for installation by car manufacturers. The company also plans to design and develop satellite radio receivers for sale directly to consumers in the electronics aftermarket.

Last week, <A HREF="http://www.semiconductors.com/">Philips Semiconductors</A> announced the CD10 chipset, which the company describes as the world's first two-chip solution to deliver CD-RW (compact disc, re-writeable) compatibility for CD audio players. According to Philips, one chip provides a data amplifier and laser supply circuit, while the other is the digital servo, decoder, and DAC. As a result, Philips claims that the new chipset allows designers to build audio players that can read all forms of CDs without an increase in component count.

Do you suffer socially because of your audio obsession?

Last week, the Secure Digital Music Initiative announced that it would allow free MP3 downloads to co-exist with new encrypted forms of digital music transmission. Despite this, widespread concern in corporate legal departments about copyright-violation liability has prompted software developers to come up with blocking techniques to prevent pirated music from entering company "Intranets."

The <A HREF="http://www.jeffrowland.com/">Jeff Rowland Design Group</A> is alive and well and in no danger of going out of business. The company was the victim of hackers who recently broke into the company's website and posted a notice to the contrary.

According to a recent report released by Information Technology researchers <A HREF="http://www.frost.com">Frost & Sullivan</A>, the world Internet audio market generated revenues totaling $42 million in 1998, which dwarfs the 1997 revenues by 1516%. The report predicts that this market will continue growing at a healthy rate, achieving an increase into the triple percentage digits by the end of 1999.

Wes Phillips writes, "I catch John's eye and wonder if he's pondering the same question I am: <I>What were we thinking?</I>" In addition to trying to push forward the limits of getting great sound onto tape, <I>Stereophile</I>'s release of <I>Rhapsody In Blue</I> would offer the public a groundbreaking arrangement of George Gershwin's most popular orchestral work. In "<A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com//features/124/">The <I>Rhapsody</I> Project</A>," Hyperion Knight and John Atkinson join Wes in chronicling their perspectives on the processes leading to this landmark recording.