Stereophile Staff

Last week, the <A HREF="http://www.riaa.com">Recording Industry Association of America</A> released its annual demographic survey of 3051 music purchasers in the United States. "Several interesting profiles emerged in 1998, including the boom in R&B and Gospel, as well as the sharp decline in Rock sales," said Hilary Rosen, RIAA president and CEO. "Demographic shifts also continued, with women outbuying men for the second year, and a drop in purchases among 15-to-29-year-olds, contrasted by significant growth among those age 35 and older." Last month, the RIAA released its annual year-end shipments statistics, which revealed the size of the domestic sound-recording industry in 1998 to be $13.7 billion.

Myles Astor, publisher of <A HREF="http://www.ultimateaudio.com/"><I>Ultimate Audio</I></A>, recently announced that former <I>Stereophile</I> contributing editor Jack English has joined his publication as a senior editor.

Classical music fans will be happy to hear that <A HREF="http://www.image-entertainment.com">Image Entertainment</A> has announced the signing of an exclusive license agreement with England's Reiner Moritz Associates (RMA) that will see the company releasing 50 classical-music programs on DVD in the coming year. In addition to the classical performance programming, Image will also release some of RMA's special-interest fare, featuring such luminaries as Marilyn Horne, Maria Callas, David Hockney, Jackson Pollock, and Margot Fonteyn.

Ethics and high-end audio have always been a tangled web---especially when it comes to deciding whether to purchase equipment from a helpful local dealer or trying to find the best price possible. In the web reprint of February 1999's "<A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com//thinkpieces/98/">The Final Word</A>," <I>Stereophile</I>'s publisher emeritus, Larry Archibald, examines a recent high-end purchase of his own to shed a little light on the dilemma faced by the audiophile grinding for a great deal. Also included are some choice reader responses.

Rumors have been confirmed that high-end audio journal <I>Fi Magazine</I>, which just entered its fourth year of publication, closed its doors last Friday, February 26. In a conversation with <I>Stereophile</I> publisher emeritus Larry Archibald, former <I>Fi</I> editor Jonathan Valin commented that "It was really a shame. I never worked so long and so hard on anything, and it didn't have to end the way it did---but I don't want to go into it. The money was there to keep it going." John Atkinson had been told at CES by a <I>Fi</I> spokesperson that a new source of investment had been found, but we can only assume that the deal fell through.

You think we've got format problems these days? Take a peek back to 1963, when J. Gordon Holt ripped apart the then-new record technology from RCA in <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com//asweseeit/95/">"Down with Dynagroove"</A>. Next, Wes Phillips writes an ode to his own Mr. Holland in <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com//asweseeit/94/">"A Passion for Music"</A>.

The official <A HREF="http://www.grammy.com/">website</A&gt; of the 41st Annual Grammy Awards was launched earlier this month with the help of a media team from the Atlanta division of <A HREF="http://www.ibm.com/">International Business Machines</A>. The Java-based site provides background information on the artists and events of the music-awards extravaganza, taking place Wednesday evening, February 24, at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles.