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Slow beginnings are sometimes the most successful. Months after its acquisitionhttp://www.stereophile.com/news/11033/">acquisition; by Chicago-based Music">http://www.amusicdirect.com">Music Direct, legendary audiophile record label Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab plans to release Super Audio Compact Discs this winter.

What initially took form in college dorm rooms and computer geeks' homes only a few short years back looks ready to break into the mainstream audio market this year. Hard-disk–based audio systems are becoming more common as both consumer electronics and computer manufacturers rush to bring">http://www.stereophile.com/news/11185/">bring products to market.

The audio tribe is converging once again in Las Vegas for one of its its three annual gatherings (the others being CEDIA-Expo and the Home Entertainment Show, of course), and so far so good. Although the show officially opens Tuesday this year, several of the major manufacturers took advantage of the calm before the storm to hold their press conferences on Monday.

A year-end report by Nielsen SoundScanhttp://www.soundscan.com">SoundScan;, which tracks retail activity, states that compact disc sales through December 22, 2002, were off 9.3% compared to the same period the previous year, with 624.2 million units sold compared to 688.2 sold in 2001. Of all recorded music sold, 94% of it was on CD, the remainder on cassette tape and vinyl records. An insignificant amount of music was sold as legitimate downloads from industry-sponsored music sites. SoundScan did not expect the last week of December to impact the year's total.

It's a brave new music world.

It's widely acknowledged that the American economy is in a downturn, but some economic indicators point otherwise.

As Jonathan Scull reports in his review of the Class&#233">http://www.stereophile.com//digitalsourcereviews/474/">Classé Omega Super Audio CD player, "Classé has guts. These are uncertain times, but here they are with an audiophile classic: an expensive two-channel Super Audio CD player." Read how one of the first SACD machines from a high-end audio company stacks up.