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As rules of thumb go, this one is pretty infallible: By the time we've heard about it, a trend's hippest participants will think it's on the decline. That means that mashups, or the manipulation of the musical genetic material of several different songs to create a new song, may be on their way out, because we've become infatuated with them.

In almost 40 years of attending audio press events, only rarely have I come away feeling that I was present at the birth of a new world. In March 1979, I visited the Philips Research Center in Eindhoven, Holland and heard a prototype of what was to be later called the Compact Disc. In the summer of 1982, I visited Ron Genereux and Bob Berkovitz at Acoustic Research's lab near Boston and heard a very early example of the application of DSP to the correction of room acoustic problems. And in early December, at Meridian's New York offices, I heard Bob Stuart describe the UK company's MQA technology, followed by a demonstration that blew my socks off.

In a brief statement, The">http://www.internationalaudiogroup.com/">The International Audio Group (IAG) announced on June 28 that it has purchased the Missionhttp://www.mission.co.uk/">Mission; business from the Administrators of Symphonix. In a separate transaction, IAG reports that it has also purchased the Mission brandname from NXT.

The struggle for position in the Internet-based audio downloading market continues unabated. On the format front, Sony has recently">http://www.stereophile.com/news/10716/">recently announced several deals to bring its ATRAC compressed-audio format to the Web, while IBMhttp://www.ibm.com">IBM; and Liquid">http://www.liquidaudio.com">Liquid Audio announced last week that they have entered into a strategic relationship intended to "advance the digital music marketplace" with content-management tools.

The official websitehttp://www.grammy.com/">website; of the 41st Annual Grammy Awards was launched earlier this month with the help of a media team from the Atlanta division of International">http://www.ibm.com/">International Business Machines. The Java-based site provides background information on the artists and events of the music-awards extravaganza, taking place Wednesday evening, February 24, at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles.

Ibrahim Ferrer, one of the best-known practitioners of the Cuban vocal music known as son, died in Havana on August 6 of multiple organ failure. He had returned, ill, from a European tour several days previously, and then been hospitalized.

Definitive Audio of Bellevue, Washington (near Seattle), one of the premier dealerships in the Pacific Northwest, continued its 50th anniversary celebration with a September event it called "Icons and Innovators." Highlighted by showings of the new JBL Everest series and Bowers & Wilkins Nautilus and 801 Abbey Road edition loudspeakers, the event drew a full house to the first of two sessions on the afternoon of September 18.

I am sad to report that, 19 years to the day after I recorded her performing Schulhoff's Sonata for Solo Violin for Stereophile's Duet CD, Ida Levin passed away on Friday November 18, after a lengthy battle with leukemia. She was 53. Our condolences to her family, her fellow musicians, her students, and to all who, like me, were thrilled by her playing. As a tribute to Ida, from now until January 1, 2017, we are offering Duet to our readers free of charge (though we will still have to charge shipping and handling).

On Thursday April 2nd at Park Avenue Audio in NYC, Ideon Audio introduced their latest and greatest creation, the Axiom DAC. Walter Schofield, Co-Managing Director of the 2WA Group with Walter Swanbon, did the introductions. Miguel Barrio reports.

When we received notice several days ago from Panasonichttp://www.panasonic.com">Panasonic; that the company was finally releasing its DVD-Audio players next month, we filed the press release for a couple of days to see if it would last the week (see previous">http://www.stereophile.com/news/10620/">previous story). Apparently, the products are still a go. Panasonic says it will offer a full line of DVD-Audio/Video models under both the Panasonic and Technics brand names, with the first units arriving in stores in July. As previously">http://www.stereophile.com/news/10509/">previously announced back in August 1999, the Panasonic DVD-A7 will have a suggested retail price of $999.95, and the Technics DVD-A10 will have an SRP of $1199.95.