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Kalman Rubinson didn't expect to complete a full review of the Revel">http://www.stereophile.com//loudspeakerreviews/302/">Revel Ultima Studio loudspeaker, planning instead to investigate only the company's F30 (also">http://www.stereophile.com//loudspeakerreviews/244/">also available in the online archives). But after the Studios ended up spending several months in his home, there was only one honorable option available: 'fess up and submit his true feelings.

Recently, the Optical">www.osta.org">Optical Storage Technology Association (OSTA) announced the release of a new CD compatibility specification called "MultiPlay&quot">www.osta.org/multiplay">MultiPlay" for the computer and consumer electronics industries. OSTA says that the new specification is intended to ensure that Compact Disc Recordable (CD-R) and Compact Disc ReWritable (CD-RW) discs created on personal computers can also be played in consumer CD and DVD players.

Radio will finally go digital in 2001. Among the oldest analog media, radio will be the last to make the transition, but it should make much faster headway in the market than digital television has. Satellite digital radio broadcasters XM">http://www.xmradio.com/">XM Satellite Radio Holdings, Inc. and Sirius">http://www.siriusradio.com/">Sirius Satellite Radio, Inc. are both on schedule to go live in the coming year, aided by partnerships with automakers to make digital receivers available as options in new cars. A strong automotive aftermarket for digital radio receivers is expected, with some industry insiders predicting that the first models will retail at approximately $100 apiece. Both XM and Sirius will offer multiple channels of music, news, comedy, sports, and talk show entertainment—all for about $10 per month per subscriber.

American radio stations which stream music programming over the Internet may be facing substantial outlays in royalty fees paid to record companies, under a December 8 ruling by the US Copyright Office, a division of the Library of Congress. After months of legal wrangling, the office decided that radio stations are just as liable for such fees as other music sites. "Transmissions of a broadcast signal over a digital communications network such as the Internet are not exempt from copyright liability," the ruling states.

DVD-Audio has been brewing for a couple of years now, finally going public with the Technics">http://www.stereophile.com//digitalsourcereviews/300/">Technics DVD-A10 DVD-Audio player. Jonathan Scull got his eager hands on this groundbreaking machine last September, only to find that evaluating a new format is a complicated affair. Will this player, and DVD-Audio in general, soothe the audiophile heart? Scull takes a listen and spills the bits.

If it's the software that sells a new format, then several recent announcements bode well for both SACD and DVD-Audio. Last week, DTS announced plans to begin shipment of the first DVD-Audio music recordings produced by its company-owned DTS">http://www.dtsonline.com">DTS Entertainment record label by late February 2001. Also, the first multichannel SACD to be produced by a major label from an original multitrack master, Mike Oldfield's recently remastered 1971 classic Tubular Bells is due for release from Virgin Records in February 2001.

Music industry veteran Rudi Gassner died Saturday, December 23 at his vacation home in the Bavarian town of Samerberg. Recently appointed as president and chief executive of BMG">http://www.bmg.com">BMG Entertainment, Gassner had yet to assume the helm at the record label. The cause of death was a heart attack, according to a statement issued by his family. Gassner was 58.