LATEST ADDITIONS

The process becomes the product: in an announcement tinged with shades of <A HREF="http://www.spinaltap.com/"><I>This Is Spinal Tap</I></A>, the band LIVE says it will be recording its next album under the scrutiny of a live internet camera. The webcast, which began July 17, is available on LIVE's <A HREF="http://www.friendsoflive.com">website</A&gt; 24 hours a day, offering fans and the simply curious an "unblinking" glimpse of the creation of their new album, from "start to finish."

As digital distribution grows, the protection of copyrighted material---music, film, video, photographic images, paintings, drawings, and text---becomes ever more important. Tied to this are widespread concerns about maintaining security during online transactions---keeping credit-card numbers and customers' identities hidden from would-be thieves.

He's got his own bonds on Wall Street, houses all over the world, a fashion-model wife, and more wealth than any other rock star to date. But what he really wanted was his own Internet Service Provider. As a result, David Bowie goes online September 1 with the first rock-star-based ISP: <A HREF="http://www.davidbowie.com">BowieNet</A&gt;.

I was watching Mr. Holland's Opus on the tube the other day and was surprised to find myself teary-eyed, even though the film lost me by subjecting me to Michael Kamen's atrocious "symphony" in the finale. Why had I become all choked up? Because I had a Mr. Holland of my own.

The rule of thumb has historically been to spend more on your speakers than on the rest of your equipment. But audiophiles have found that every part of a system requires attention. Where have you ended up?

The internet has been a boon to music lovers, who now can research almost any piece of music or artist, or shop for obscure discs and memorabilia from a plethora of sources. In an interesting twist on the additional material idea, <A HREF="http://www.sonymusic.com">Sony Music</A> has been making supplemental content for selected CD releases available on a special website.

<B>TOM WAITS: <I>Beautiful Maladies</I></B><BR> Island 314-524 519-2 (CD). 1998. Various prods., engs. AAD? TT: 74:00<BR> Performance <B>*****</B><BR> Sonics <B>****?</B>