LATEST ADDITIONS

It wasn't too long ago that rock band Pearl Jam set their lawyers after the dozens of independent websites pre-releasing pirated versions of the band's album <I>Yield</I>, hoping to curtail its availability on the Internet. How times change. On June 4, any consumer with access to the Internet and a <A HREF="http://www.real.com">RealNetworks</A&gt; G2 player will have the opportunity to visit the world's "ultimate listening posts" when the Red Hot Chili Peppers' new album, <I>Californication</I>, and Def Leppard's <I>Euphoria</I>, will be available in their entireties for streaming on the Web---four days prior to their official June 8 release.

Streaming multiple channels of music has proven a big hit with satellite customers, so it seems natural that <A HREF="http://www.dmxmusic.com">DMX</A>---a subsidiary of TCI Music (soon to be renamed Liberty Digital), and the company responsible for bringing audio to 2.6 million dish owners---would move to the Internet. Last week, DMX announced a multi-year, multi-phase global distribution agreement under which the DMX music service will be transmitted on <A HREF="http://www.lycos.com">Lycos</A>&#039; network of websites.

S<I>tereophile</I> editor John Atkinson---arguably the high-end audio publishing industry's single most important figure, and certainly its intellectual nexus---has seen it all in his 23 years in the high-end audio industry. At HI-FI '99 in Chicago, <A HREF="http://www.audiocafe.com/">Audiocafe.com</A>'s Andrew Keen was able to pull JA away from his busy schedule for an in-depth interview about his views on the industry's current state of affairs---and on what's just over the horizon.

Radio broadcasts are still among the most useful resources for finding new music. They are also among the most frustrating. It's a rare occurrence anymore for announcers to tell you the name of a song and who performed it. Often, if you really want to know, you have to call the station and ask. If you're really lucky, someone might be willing to answer your question.

In <I>Stereophile</I>'s "Recommended Components," most full-range Class A speakers&mdash;and even some in Class B&mdash;are behemoths. Some are tall, some are wide, some are deep, and some are just plain big. Most of us would find such no-compromise devices physically imposing and visually distracting in our listening rooms. Putting aside the infamous "Spousal Acceptance Factor," how can you ignore such speakers' presence and concentrate on the music?

C<A HREF="http://www.cello-us.com/">ello Music and Film Systems</A> is not merely one of the world's most prestigious names in audio and video. This week, a plush restaurant is opening at the company's new headquarters at 53 East 77th Street (212 517-1200) on Manhattan&rsquo;s Upper East Side. Cello, as the bar/restaurant/garden is appropriately named, will serve dinner by invitation only until mid-June, when it will be opened to the public, according to Florence Fabricant in the May 19 edition of the <A HREF="http://www.nytimes.com/"><I>New York Times</I></A>.

Houston, Texas-based <A HREF="http://www.astrojams.com/">AstroJams</A&gt; is back online with Grateful Dead MP3s. The site <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/news/10430/">shut down</A> its offerings of Grateful Dead and Jerry Garcia Band downloads after receiving a cease-and-desist order from attorneys for Grateful Dead Productions in April. At issue was the site's use of advertising to generate revenue. GDP claims the sole legal right to commercial benefits stemming from the use of the band's music and logos, but had "<A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/news/10440/">never objected</A>" to the free sharing of music in the Dead tradition, according to Dennis McNally of GDP's publicity department.