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Media conglomerates have long hedged their bets by consulting demographics experts and marketing gurus. Now, music executives have real science to bolster their sometimes unreliable instincts about what will succeed and what will fail. It's an audio analysis program called Hit Song Science (HSS).

Like the audio exhibits at the CES earlier this month in Las Vegas, the NAMM show in Anaheim, California is all about the passion for, and the business of, music. Or, to put it another way, both shows are about making music.

Audio">http://www.audioasylum.com">Audio Asylum, in association with Audiogonhttp://www.audiogon.com">Audiogon;, is sponsoring an online auction for the benefit of victims of the recent earthquakes and tsunami in Asia.

Powell calls it quits: Federal Communications Commission (FCC) chairman Michael Powell has announced his departure from the regulatory agency. Powell will leave his post by March of this year, according to an announcement made January 21. The son of former Secretary of State Colin Powell, Michael Powell was appointed an FCC commissioner by then-President Clinton in 1997 and appointed chairman by President Bush in 2001.

Angus McKenzie was a wholly remarkable individual. One of British hi-fi’s legends, he was the country's leading equipment reviewer for more than a decade, but that was only one of several careers and passions he pursued with repeated and conspicuous success, despite losing his sight completely at the age of 26.

The new year got off to a litigious start as the audio industry's seemingly endless battle against the gray market continued with a pair of federal lawsuits.

The Consumer">http://www.stereophile.com/news/010505ces">Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas is not the only major electronics event held in early January each year. Apple Computer and allied companies throw their own specialty shindig more or less concurrently.