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It's mating season for entertainment-industry giants. Sony">http://www.sonymusic.com/">Sony Music Entertainment and Universal">http://www.umusic.com/">Universal Music Group are in talks to develop a jointly operated subscription music service for the Internet, according to a report the two companies issued in the first week of May. The news followed by only a week an announcement of a possible">http://www.stereophile.com/news/10729/">possible merger between record clubs Columbia House and BMG Music Club.

Jonathan Scull thinks he has uncoverd the hot audiophile topic for the new millennium—e-commerce. He lays out the situation in "Fine">http://www.stereophile.com//finetunes/224/">"Fine Tunes" #19. Find out what various manufacturers are up to, and why.

In hopes of stoking the multichannel DVD-Audio engine, Burr-Brownhttp://www.burrbrown.com">Burr-Brown; announced last week the PCM1604 audio digital-to-analog converter, which they describe as a high-performance, 6-channel audio DAC featuring 24-bit capability and 192kHz sampling, for use in a "wide variety of multichannel audio applications."

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: Sonyhttp://www.sony.com">Sony; 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 Lowpass">http://http://www.lowpassprototype.com/">Lowpass Prototype Inc. to the development team. According to an April 27 press release, USA">http://www.usadr.com/">USA Digital Radio, Inc., 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.

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

The healthy trend for the audio market continues: the Consumer">http://www.ce.org">Consumer Electronics Association 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.