Phase One of the <A HREF="http://sdmi.org/">Secure Digital Music Initiative</A> (SDMI) will incorporate watermarking technology for DVD-Audio from <A HREF="http://www.verance.com/">Verance Corporation</A>. The agreement was announced at a meeting of the SDMI in Hawaii early in December. Verance Corp. was formed recently by the merger of ARIS Technologies Corporation and Solana Technology Development Corp. ARIS's technology was announced a few months ago as the SDMI's choice for watermarking.

I had an epiphany the other night. (Hope Rabbi Lichtenstein won't be too upset.) Kathleen and I were watching the Antiques Road Show on PBS, and, during a break, I started channel-surfing. I know, it's obnoxious—but I feel compelled to hop around and keep up the sense- and info-pounding barrage we've come to take for granted and, in fact, rely on. In a way, channel-surfing is a perfect symptom of our information-overload society: click Geraldo, click Robin Byrd, click Jazz Channel, click Weather Channel. We're bombarded, we're inundated, we're . . . let's face it, we're overwhelmed. The Internet, e-mail, phone calls—lots of information, and little time to process it.

The quest for new speaker technologies has resulted in some novel approaches to the reproduction of sound, as witnessed by products announced in the last few years by <A HREF="http://www.nxt.co.uk/">NXT</A&gt; and 1 . . . Ltd. (See <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/news/10234/">previous story</A>.) Some of <I>Stereophile</I>'s readers may also recall that, back in May 1996, <A HREF="http://www.atcsd.com">American Technology Corp.</A> shook things up in the audio world by announcing what the company described as its "breakthough" new technology, the much-debated HyperSonic Sound (HSS). This was followed up in February 1997, when ATC announced the introduction of its Stratified Field Technology SFT, which company literature touted as "a significant improvement over conventional loudspeakers."

Last August, we <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/news/10515/">reported</A&gt; that brick-and-mortar retailer Tweeter Home Entertainment Group had aligned itself with online retailer Cyberian Outpost to leverage each company's respective strengths, both on- and offline. The trend continues as, last week, brick-and-mortar retailer <A HREF="http://www.harveyonline.com">Harvey Electronics</A> announced that it has reached an "agreement in principle" with <A HREF="http://www.coolaudio.com">CoolAudio.com</A&gt; (see <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/news/10479/">previous story</A>) to merge the two companies through an exchange of common stock.

As reported last March, loudspeaker manufacturer Von Schweikert Research closed its doors after a disastrous flood hit the factory (see <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/news/10413/">previous report</A>). Many thought this was the end of the story, but last week, Dr. Edward Gonzaga, of the Gonzaga Investment Group, announced the formation of a new version of the company, to be named <A HREF="mailto:albertvonn@aol.com">Von Schweikert Audio</A>.

Audiophiles eager to try DVD-Audio will have to wait just a bit longer. Matsushita Industrial Electric Co. and Japan Victor Company have decided to hold back their new DVD-A players, in the wake of the widely publicized decryption of the format's copy-protection scheme by a Norwegian computer hacker. The hacker published his workaround of the encryption on the Internet late in November.

Time does fly when you're having fun, and it's hard to believe that the <I>Stereophile</I> website is two years old&mdash;so it's time for a party and some presents!

Since 1992, <I>Stereophile</I> has named a select few audio components its "Products of the Year." In doing so, we recognize those components that have proved capable of giving musical pleasure beyond the formal review period.

Since 1992, <I>Stereophile</I> has named a select few audio components its "Products of the Year." In doing so, we recognize those components that have proved capable of giving musical pleasure beyond the formal review period.