Software giant <A HREF="http://www.microsoft.com">Microsoft Corporation</A> has entered the audio market with a satellite-and-subwoofer speaker system for use with personal computers. The Digital Sound System 80 made its debut at this year's Electronics Entertainment Expo (E3), held May 28-30 in Atlanta's World Congress Center. The system was designed in conjunction with <A HREF="http://www.philips.com">Philips Electronics NV of the Netherlands</A>, one of the world's largest electronics companies.

Hundreds of manufacturers will be demonstrating state-of-the-art audio products at <A HREF="http://www.hifishow.com">HI-FI '98</A>---some of which have never before been seen by the public. We're running several announcements each week leading up to the Show to give you a taste of what to expect. Here's the fourth assortment:

The practice of "Transshipping"---selling a product outside one's designated territory---is widespread in the audio industry. It's commonplace for dealers to sell not only to walk-in customers, but also over the telephone or Internet to customers in other dealers' territories, usually at discounted prices. While not problematic on a small scale, the practice favors large-volume dealers over smaller ones, and is almost always a violation of a dealer's agreement with a manufacturer.

Hundreds of manufacturers will be demonstrating state-of-the-art audio products at <A HREF="http://www.hifishow.com">HI-FI '98</A>---some of which have never before been seen by the public. We are running several announcements each week leading up to the Show to give you a taste of what to expect. Here's the third assortment:

This past week, <A HREF="http://www.avacademy.com/">The Academy Advancing High Performance Audio & Video</A> (AAHPAV) released its 1998 Golden Note Awards Nominations.

In an effort to make computers more useful as audio systems, <A HREF="http://www.musicmatch.com">MusicMatch</A&gt; and <A HREF="http://www.xingtech.com/">Xing Technology</A> recently announced MusicMatch Jukebox, a digital audio management software program for the consumer market.

In a move that establishes its leadership in the entertainment business, <A HREF="http://www.seagram.com/">Seagram Company</A> has purchased <A HREF="http://www.polygram.com">PolyGram NV</A> from <A HREF="http://www.sv.philips.com/">Philips Electronics NV</A> of Holland. The deal was valued at $10.6 billion.

I don't know how many of you buy disposable diapers, but while Harry (now 6) and Emily (now 5) were still toddlers, diapers played a large role in my life. I can still remember my panic when I first saw the miles of drugstore shelves devoted to Pampers and Huggies&mdash;not just large, medium, and small, but such a variety that it could almost have been possible that each child had a diaper tailored for him or her. I'm sure that even the weirdly shaped backside of Tommy Pickles could have been securely wrapped.

Back in the Spring of 1990, <I>Stereophile</I> introduced its <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com//reference/176/">first <I>Test CD</I></A>. Featuring a mixture of test signals and musical tracks recorded by the magazine's editors and writers, it sold in large numbers&mdash;around 50,000 had been produced at last count. Even as we were working on that first disc, however, we had plans to produce a second disc that would expand on the usefulness of the first and feature a more varied selection of music. The result is our <I>Test CD 2</I>, introduced this month for just <A HREF="http://ssl.blueearth.net/primedia/home.php">$7.95 plus postage and handling</A>. With a playing time of over 74 minutes, the new disc should prove an invaluable tool to help audiophiles optimally set up their systems and rooms by ear&mdash;and the music's pretty good, too!&mdash;<B>John Atkinson</B>