CD Recorders Getting Cheaper, More Plentiful
CD audio recorders are becoming affordable and more available. Philips'">http://www.philips.com/">Philips' CDR880 (reviewed by Wes Phillips in the current issue of Stereophile) will be in dealers' showrooms soon at a suggested retail price of $649. Pioneerhttp://pioneerelectronics.com/">Pioneer; will also have an inexpensive recorder on the market---the PD-R555RW, which will reportedly sell for $599. These two---and others that will no doubt follow---are welcome relief from the four-figure machines that have dominated the recordable audio CD niche.
CD Recorders Hot Commodity This Season
People love to make their own compilation recordings. That fact helped make the cassette deck the most successful audio format of all time, and it is driving sales of CD recorders, a product category new to most consumers. As predictedhttp://www.stereophile.com/news/10533/">predicted; last summer, CD recorders have become one of the hottest niches in consumer audio, exceeding MiniDisc machines in total sales dollars. Sales are brisk despite the fact that CD recorders are among the priciest components on the market, ranging from $500 to $600. MiniDisc recorders for home use are priced at about $250 and up.
CD Recorders, DVD Changers Hot Items for Fall
Electronics dealers may have a great autumn if they load up on dual-well CD recorders and DVD carousel changers, two of the hottest audio fashion items. Major manufacturers like Kenwoodhttp://www.kenwood.com/">Kenwood;, Onkyohttp://www.onkyo.co.jp/">Onkyo;, Denon,http://www.denon.com/">Denon,;, and Harman/Kardonhttp://www.harman.com/">Harman/Kardon; have all announced plans to deliver recorders and DVD changers by October, in time for the holiday season.
CD Sales Up in '98; High End Stalls over DVD-Audio
Unit sales of CD players rebounded in 1998, rising 4% to $336 million, according to statistics from the Consumer">http://www.cemacity.org/">Consumer Electronics Manufacturers Association. All segments of the CD hardware market---single-play, carousel changers, and mega-disc changers---improved over the big slump of 1997, when unit sales fell 60% and dollar sales fell 40%. Through November 1998, single-disc player sales were up 33% in units and 24% in dollar volume. Carousel changers, component-CD's largest segment, rose 15% in units and 7.5% in dollars during the first three quarters of 1998.
CD Surround Sound
Will surround sound rejuvenate the music industry? That's the position many record label execs took when adding the capability to DVD-Audio and SACD years ago. But while they wait for the high-rez formats to catch on, SRS">http://www.srslabs.com">SRS Labs has decided to add multichannel audio to the conventional compact disc.
CD-Recorders, MiniDisc, and MP3 Running Neck, Neck, & Neck
Information released last week by NPD">http://www.intelectmt.com">NPD Intelect reveals eye-opening statistics about digital audio recorder formats. The numbers show that, from January to May 2000, unit shares of digital recording sales in retail stores were 30.8% for CD recorders (not including computer-based systems), 40.9% for MiniDisc recorders, and 28.3% for MP3 recording devices (also not including computer-based systems).
CD-ReWritable Market Growth Exceeds Industry Expectations
On March 20, at the CeBIT '98 convention in Hanover, Germany, several leading manufacturers of CD-ReWritable (CD-RW) drives and media announced that the market for CD-RW products has grown much faster than originally predicted.
CDKnet Inks Deal with Atlantic Records
Last Friday, October 23, Garden City, NY---based CDKnet announced that Atlantic Recording Corporation had signed a licensing agreement to use the company’s CDT technology for enhancing the content of its music CDs. CDKnet’s audio and video streaming technology embeds links on music CDs to sites on the World Wide Web, such as Atlantic’s own Metrotainmenthttp://www.metrotainment.com/">Metrotainment; site. The first musical release under this agreement will be "A Random Act of Senseless Kindness," a single by South SixtyFive, a new group on the Atlantic label.
CDNow and N2K to Merge
The rumors were flying all week, and this time they proved to be true: CDNow">http://www.cdnow.com">CDNow Inc. and N2K">http://www.n2k.com">N2K Inc. jointly announced the signing of a definitive merger agreement on October 23. Both companies are well-positioned in the online music retail business, but face ever-increasing threats from new online rivals such as Tower Records and Virgin, as well as the ominous presence of Amazon.com who recently jumped into the online music business.
CDnow Buys superSonicBOOM
On June 7, http://www.cdnow.com"> CDnow, the world's top online music retailer, announced that it had acquired superSonicBOOMhttp://www.supersonicboom.com">superSonicBOOM;, an Internet custom-compilation disc business. The acquisition gives CDnow the ability to offer its customers custom discs as well as catalog product, said Jason Olim, CDnow President and CEO.