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See update at end of article. iTunes continues to grow and Napster has been reborn, but these last few months have been a bumpy ride for MP3.comhttp://MP3.com">MP3.com;. The music site, known for its large online music library featuring unsigned independent artists, was purchased on December 14 by San Francisco-based CNEThttp://www.CNET.com">CNET;.

Consumer electronics stores have long carried computer gear, everything from laptops and desktop systems to software and accessories. Computer stores, led by Gateway Country stores, have slowly been moving in the other direction. Now it looks as if convergence in the retail realm is about to take another great leap forward.

The music goes round and round: An investment group led by former Universal Music chief Edgar Bronfman, Jr. is in the lead to acquire Warner Music Group (WMG) and Warner/Chappell Music Publishing from corporate parent Time Warner, according to reports issued the third week of November. Bronfman's group—a consortium of banks and venture capital firms—has offered $2.8 billion for Time Warner's musical properties, possibly forcing prior suitor EMI Group PLC to drop out of the bidding. On Thursday, November 20, EMI chairman Eric Nicoll told reporters that Time Warner had informed his company of "a possible proposal from another party as an alternative to our own firm offer."

Grabbing a few big gulps can sometimes fill you up quickly, but it can also lead to a little indigestion. This proved to be the case for D&M">http://www.dm-holdings.com">D&M Holdings, which filed results for the first half of its fiscal year, ending September 30, 2003, and its financial forecast for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2004 with the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

One of the keys to SACD's potential acceptance within the mass market is the hybrid disc format, ensuring that all of those Stones, Dylan, or Pink Floyd discs can be purchased by consumers with regular CD players. Although the DVD-Audio camp has played">http://www.stereophile.com/news/11515/index.html">played with the idea of hybrid discs for its format, nothing has made it past the testing stages yet.

One of the visual highlights of the 2003 Consumer Electronics Show and HE 2003 in San Francisco was the Penaudiohttp://www.penaudio.fi">Penaudio; speakers, sporting a unique sliced-wood veneer wrapped around diminutive two-way designs. While the speakers were easy on the eyes, it wasn't so easy to find a pair to audition in the US.

Back in the 1990s, I lusted mightily for the large ESP speakers with their tall, slim shapes and their angled driver panels. A large-room demo of the Concert Grands with Sonic Frontiers electronics still reverberates in my memory. Unfortunately, just as I evolved to the point where I could consider buying a pair of Concert Grands, the company folded its tents. Recently, I heard a rumor that ESP might be returning, and an email exchange with founder and designer Sean McCaughan has confirmed the good news.