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As the saying goes, there are lies, damn lies, and then there are statistics. Statistics can be used to help understand what goes on in the world, but, as any marketing exec or PR company knows, they can also be manipulated to tell a particular story.

On Wednesday, September 11, the National">http://www.nab.org">National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) filed a brief with the U.S. Copyright Office seeking relief from the implementation of a webcasting royalty schedule announced this summer by the Librarian of Congress, James Billington. In June, Billington determined that commercial stations streaming their musical programming on the Internet should pay a rate of .07 cents per song per 1000 listeners, a rate less than half that suggested by the music industry–backed Copyright Arbitration Royalty Panel.

Chip manufacturer Cirrus">http://www.cirrus.com">Cirrus Logic announced last week that it has introduced two audio, high-performance, digital-to-analog converters (DACs) that it claims will enable manufacturers to bring more DVD-Audio players to the mainstream consumer market.

DVD-Audio may have gotten a boost on the production end with the impending release of DVD-Audio Creator LE, an authoring system developed and marketed by Sonic">http://www.sonic.com">Sonic Solutions. Available October 15, the authoring system will sell for $5999, a price that could enable many small recording studios and mastering houses to begin working with the format. "DVD-Audio Creator LE puts powerful tools in the hands of professional mastering studios at a very low cost," said Dietrick Hardwick, DVD-Audio product manager at Sonic Solutions. "This enables facilities to significantly expand their service offerings by providing their clients DVD-Audio title creation at an affordable price."

Home theater may be the electronic industry's golden goose, but, contrary to nasty rumors, standalone audio is sailing along proudly, as demonstrated by several recently released products.

Audio retailing has been a tough business in recent years, but two just-released surveys are suggesting that with the right combination of economic factors and dealer preparedness, things could turn around for smart retailers over the coming holiday season.

The US economy took a severe downturn last year following the terrorist attacks of September 11, and this year has been hit by the stock market's decline in the wake of the accounting scandal–fueled collapse of Enron and WorldCom, Inc. Electronics retailers have ridden out the slump fairly well, buoyed by a consumer trend toward "cocooning," or putting their disposable income into their homes. For most retailers, the popularity of DVD and home theater has offset diminishing sales of stand-alone audio.