Unit sales of CD players rebounded in 1998, rising 4% to $336 million, according to statistics from the <A HREF="http://www.cemacity.org/">Consumer Electronics Manufacturers Association</A>. All segments of the CD hardware market---single-play, carousel changers, and mega-disc changers---improved over the big slump of 1997, when unit sales fell 60% and dollar sales fell 40%. Through November 1998, single-disc player sales were up 33% in units and 24% in dollar volume. Carousel changers, component-CD's largest segment, rose 15% in units and 7.5% in dollars during the first three quarters of 1998.

Rumors have been confirmed that high-end audio journal <I>Fi Magazine</I>, which just entered its fourth year of publication, closed its doors last Friday, February 26. In a conversation with <I>Stereophile</I> publisher emeritus Larry Archibald, former <I>Fi</I> editor Jonathan Valin commented that "It was really a shame. I never worked so long and so hard on anything, and it didn't have to end the way it did---but I don't want to go into it. The money was there to keep it going." John Atkinson had been told at CES by a <I>Fi</I> spokesperson that a new source of investment had been found, but we can only assume that the deal fell through.

The final piece of the TGI/Mordaunt-Short/Epos jigsaw puzzle (see <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/news/10343/">previous story</A>) seems to have fallen into place, with the news that Mike Creek (of the UK's Creek Audio) is purchasing the Epos loudspeaker brand, effective March 1.

I've heard it all a thousand times before:

I've heard it all a thousand times before:

I've heard it all a thousand times before:

I've heard it all a thousand times before:

I've heard it all a thousand times before:

I've heard it all a thousand times before:

I've heard it all a thousand times before: