Could the average computer hard drive soon be able to store the equivalent of over 80 DVD-Audio discs or 600 CDs? Last week, <A HREF="http://www.research.ibm.com">IBM</A&gt; announced that it is using just a few atoms of what it has termed "pixie dust" to push back the data storage industry's most formidable barrier, and will effectively quadruple disk drive densities in the next two years.

Two scuttled mergers in the past year haven't damaged the profit picture for <A HREF="http://www.emigroup.com">EMI Group PLC</A>. Neither has a global slowdown in music sales. EMI announced May 22 that it expects to see a 5.7% increase in pretax profits for its fiscal year ended March 31: &#163;259.5 million (US $374 million), up from &#163;245.4 million (US $353 million) a year earlier. EMI's sales for the year rose 12% to &#163;2.67 billion (US $3.84 billion).

A quickly established favorite among music fans, the <A HREF="http://www.cddb.com">CDDB</A&gt; website provides comprehensive information for tracking who and what appears on just about any CD in existence (see <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/news/10438/">previous</A&gt;). But as users of the service are discovering, the company that now maintains the database, <A HREF="http://www.gracenote.com">Gracenote</A&gt;, is starting to change the rules of access.

It was 15 years ago this week that an enthusiastic John Atkinson was lured <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com//asweseeit/352/">From London to Santa Fe</A> to take the helm of <I>Stereophile</I>. As JA recounted back in 1986, "From London, England, to Santa Fe, New Mexico, is a pretty big jump, both geographically and culturally. From <I>Hi-Fi News & Record Review</I> to <I>Stereophile</I>, however, is a mere hop; the similarities overwhelm the differences."

It's sometimes amazing how courtroom adversaries can become bosom buddies. This week's example: on May 21, <A HREF="http://www.vivendiuniversal.com">Vivendi Universal SA</A> agreed to acquire Internet music portal <A HREF="http://www.mp3.com">MP3.com Inc</A>. for $372 million (423 million euros) in cash and stock&mdash;or $5.00/share for MP3.com stockholders. The announcement followed Vivendi's April 5 <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/news/11015/">acquisition</A&gt; of Emusic.com for $24 million. The targeted companies' boards of directors unanimously approved both deals. MP3.com will continue to offer music from non-Universal labels, according to a company press release.

The <A HREF="http://www.sdmi.org">Secure Digital Music Initiative</A> has decided to reconfirm San Diego&ndash;based <A HREF="http://www.verance.com">Verance Corporation</A>'s watermarking technology as its choice for inhibiting piracy in digitally recorded music. The May 21 announcement was made by the SDMI Plenary after a year-long campaign to evaluate the effectiveness and <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/news/10870/">audibility</A&gt; of watermarks from 14 different vendors. The group has also apparently decided to halt further research and development efforts, which have been widely blamed for hobbling the rollout of DVD-Audio.

"J-10, tweakoman," began the e-mail from one of Stereophile's Web mavens and a contributor to "Industry Update," the estimable Barry Willis, "hockey pucks are the cure for what ails you."

As part of this issue's coverage of the recent Consumer Electronics Show (see Sidebar), I report on my dissatisfaction with almost all the surround-sound demonstrations I experienced in Las Vegas. As a music-lover, the last thing I want is to have trumpets and drums attacking me from behind, yet almost without exception, that is what record producers seem to feel is an essential part of the DVD-Audio and SACD experiences.

As part of this issue's coverage of the recent Consumer Electronics Show (see Sidebar), I report on my dissatisfaction with almost all the surround-sound demonstrations I experienced in Las Vegas. As a music-lover, the last thing I want is to have trumpets and drums attacking me from behind, yet almost without exception, that is what record producers seem to feel is an essential part of the DVD-Audio and SACD experiences.