News

More European music lovers will soon be able to enjoy the offerings of Music Choice, a leading provider of audio and data services. Zug, Switzerland-based The">http://www.fantastic.com/">The Fantastic Corporation announced an agreement October 28 with Music Choice that will expand the musical options for computer-equipped music fans in Great Britain, Italy, Germany, Switzerland, and other countries.

The rumors were flying all week, and this time they proved to be true: CDNow">http://www.cdnow.com">CDNow Inc. and N2K">http://www.n2k.com">N2K Inc. jointly announced the signing of a definitive merger agreement on October 23. Both companies are well-positioned in the online music retail business, but face ever-increasing threats from new online rivals such as Tower Records and Virgin, as well as the ominous presence of Amazon.com who recently jumped into the online music business.

Petersen's HI-FI Show management announced October 22 that The">http://www.avacademy.com/">The Academy Advancing High Performance Audio and Video will be sponsoring Trade Days at HI-FI">http://www.hifishow.com">HI-FI '99, The Home Theater and Specialty Audio Show, taking place at the Palmer House Hilton in Chicago from May 11 to May 13, 1999. This marks the fourth consecutive year that The Academy has sponsored Trade Days at the HI-FI Shows. Show management and The Academy also announced today that the Music and Film Seminar Series will be expanded in 1999 to a two-track educational program. Each track will consist of the five disciplines showcased at the Seminar Series in 1998: Sales Techniques, Digital Technologies, Room Acoustics, Video Technologies, and Multi-room Design and Installation.

Last Friday, October 23, Garden City, NY---based CDKnet announced that Atlantic Recording Corporation had signed a licensing agreement to use the company’s CDT technology for enhancing the content of its music CDs. CDKnet’s audio and video streaming technology embeds links on music CDs to sites on the World Wide Web, such as Atlantic’s own Metrotainmenthttp://www.metrotainment.com/">Metrotainment; site. The first musical release under this agreement will be "A Random Act of Senseless Kindness," a single by South SixtyFive, a new group on the Atlantic label.

The Recording">http://www.riaa.com/">Recording Industry of America is among the many organizations celebrating the recent ratificationftp://ftp.loc.gov/pub/thomas/c105/h2281.ih.txt">ratification; by the U.S. Congress of two treaties signed by more than 100 nations at the 1996 World Intellectual Property Conference in Geneva.

In a story">http://www.stereophile.com/news/10283/">story last week, we covered the efforts of the Recording">http://www.riaa.com">Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) to prevent portable MP3 players from entering the market without copy-protection measures in place. On August 16, a federal court entered a temporary restraining order (TRO) to enjoin the distribution and sale of Diamond">http://www.diamondmm.com/">Diamond Multimedia's Rio PMP300 portable MP3 recording device.

Editor's Note: Lowther horn speakers and their "clubs" have been important to do-it-yourself hi-fi hobbyists in Europe for decades.  A common question from readers in other parts of the world is "What are Lowther speakers, and where can I hear them?" We asked Mr. Doppenberg, of the Lowther Club of Holland, to give us a quick tour of the Lowther story.  For more extensive information, check the links at the end of this piece.