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Spotting another online niche, Hifi.comhttp://www.Hifi.com">Hifi.com; announced the debut of CustomHifi.comhttp://www.CustomHifi.com">CustomHifi.com; last week. The new site is aimed at custom installers. HiFi.com claims that CustomHifi.com is the first "comprehensive national, Internet-centric marketplace to offer custom electronic design and installation professionals access to leading audio/video products, information, and installation support."

The public auction of the assets of Wadia">http://www.wadia.com/">Wadia Digital Corporation has been postponed for at least two weeks, according to an employee of the Minneapolis law firm Siegel, Brill, Greupner, Duffy & Foster, P.A., which is handling the liquidation.

Back in 1997, DVD-Audio was still miles away—and it may still be! But, as John Atkinson writes, "After a decade of stability, with slow but steady improvement in the quality of 16-bit/44.1kHz audio, the cry among audio engineers is now '24/96!'—meaning 24-bit data sampled at 96kHz. Not coincidentally, DVD offers audiophiles a medium with the potential for playing back music encoded at this new mastering standard." The dCS">http://www.stereophile.com//digitalsourcereviews/259/">dCS Elgar D/A processor was one of the first consumer units able to decode 24/96, and still stands as a benchmark product. JA gives the details.

Late August news bites: Texas">http://www.ti.com/">Texas Instruments announced August 25 the completion of its acquisition of chipmaker Burr-Brown">http://www.burr-brown.com/">Burr-Brown Corporation in a stock swap. Burr-Brown is highly regarded in the audio industry for its low-noise, high-speed digital/analog converters and digital signal-processing (DSP) ICs. The company also makes ultra-high-quality analog components, a segment of the semiconductor industry expected to grow by 25% in the coming year, according to industry analyst Dataquest.

Last week, BMG">http://www.bmgentertainment.com/">BMG Entertainment, the music and entertainment division of Bertelsmann">http://www.bertelsmann.de/">Bertelsmann AG, revealed that it will join several other major labels (see previous stories EMIhttp://www.stereophile.com/news/10798/">EMI; and Universalhttp://www.stereophile.com/news/10814/">Universal;) by bringing its own digital downloads to the Internet this September. The company says that it will start with approximately 50 songs and 50 complete albums, to be made available via several retail Web outlets at prices ranging from $1.98 to $3.49 per song and from $9.98 to $16.98 per album.

In an effort to move their businesses into cyberspace, record labels and audio content distributors are still experimenting with their online formulas. Key to the new economic models for selling music over the Net is this question: Would you rather pay a monthly subscription fee to download music, or pay for music track by track? According to market researcher Gartner">http://gartner11.gartnerweb.com/public/static/home/home.html">Gartner Group, sites that plan to sell music via the subscription model should seriously reconsider.

Chicago's Maxwell Street district is considered by many to be the birthplace of Chicago blues. But the old neighborhood is in danger of permanently losing some of its historic buildings, thanks to expansion plans by the University">http://www.uic.edu/">University of Illinois at Chicago. The potential loss of the neighborhood has sparked protests by a coalition of blues musicians, including a hunger strike by 69-year-old APO">http://www.acousticsounds.com/">APO Records artist Jimmie Lee Robinson.