As expected, the Recording Industry Association of America held a press conference last week to announce the formation of the Secure Digital Music Initiative (SDMI) which hopes to develop internet downloading technologies for music. The move comes after a rough year for the music business who has seen thousands of unauthorized websites offer copyrighted material for free using the MP3 audio format.

Getting a jump on the RIAA's move to create a new music-download standard (<A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/news/10338/">see related article</A>), Tower Records announced last week that it will feature a new song-download service, created by Atlanta-based <A HREF="http://www.amplified.com">amplified.com</A&gt;, on the <A HREF="http://www.towerrecords.com">Towerrecords.com</A&gt; website.

It helps to know the technical basics when building the ultimate audio system. J. Gordon Holt, pointing out that "knowledge is power," would like to see thousands of knowledgeable audiophiles girdling the planet, and so has created an excellent primer on audio basics called <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com//reference/62/">A is for Ampere</A>.

As expected, the <A HREF="http://www.riaa.org">Recording Industry Association of America</A> held a press conference last week to announce the formation of the Secure Digital Music Initiative (SDMI), with which they hope to develop Internet downloading technologies for music. The move comes after a rough year for the music business, which has seen thousands of unauthorized websites offer copyrighted material for free using the MP3 audio format.

The holiday retailing picture looks promising, according to several recent reports. Both the <A HREF="http://www.cemacity.org/">Consumer Electronics Manufacturers Association</A> and the <A HREF="http://www.riaa.com/">Recording Industry Association of America</A> were predicting up seasons after mid-year numbers came in higher than expected. Overall, retail sales were up 0.6% in November, reported the <A HREF="http://www.wsj.com/"><I>Wall Street Journal</I></A> on Monday, December 14.

W<I>e recently received the following from Christos Skaloumbakas, President of the Audiophile Club of Athens, Greece. The ACA website is easy to navigate, with pictures and descriptions of members' systems---including listening rooms' floor construction and furnishings. Except for a few letters and opinion pieces, text is in clearly written English. The club is completely noncommercial, has no position regarding any of the usual audiophile controversies, and encourages open discussion. A love of music and a desire to share it are the only requirements for membership.---BW</I>

<I>This series of articles was initially written (in slightly different form), as a paper presented at the 103rd Audio Engineering Society Convention, New York, September 1997. The preprint, "Loudspeakers: What Measurements Can Tell Us&mdash;And What They Can't Tell Us!," AES Preprint 4608, is available from the AES, 60 East 42nd Street, Room 2520, New York, NY 10165-0075. The </I>AES internet site, <A HREF="http://www.aes.org">www.aes.org</A&gt; <I>, offers a secure transaction page for credit-card orders.</I>

<I>This series of articles was initially written (in slightly different form), as a paper presented at the 103rd Audio Engineering Society Convention, New York, September 1997. The preprint, "Loudspeakers: What Measurements Can Tell Us&mdash;And What They Can't Tell Us!," AES Preprint 4608, is available from the AES, 60 East 42nd Street, Room 2520, New York, NY 10165-0075. The </I>AES internet site, <A HREF="http://www.aes.org">www.aes.org</A&gt; <I>, offers a secure transaction page for credit-card orders.</I>