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At least one media conglomerate has seen the light. In a surprise move, German giant Bertelsmann">http://www.bertelsmann.de">Bertelsmann AG broke ranks with the music industry and settled its copyright-infringement lawsuit with embattled Napsterhttp://www.napster.com/">Napster;, in effect becoming the startup's tentative partner. The deal, reached on October 31, could mark the real beginning of the music industry's move into the Internet age. Bertelsmann is the parent organization of Bertelsmann">http://www.bmg.com/">Bertelsmann Music Group (BMG), one of the world's major music labels, as well as online music retailer CDnowhttp://www.cdnow.com/">CDnow;.

Could this be a record executive's dream come true and the end of the need for watermarking as we know it? CantaMetrixhttp://www.CantaMetrix.com/">CantaMetrix; has announced the further development of a new technology, MusicDNA, that the company claims is capable of identifying and tracking the billions of existing as well as new MP3 files on the Internet and providing an exact accounting for the copyright, "thus enabling legal file sharing and linking value-added data to songs."

Sidney Smith, revered audio engineer and a founding father of the modern audio industry, passed away on October 25, 2000 after a battle with cancer. He was 77. Sid, a family man, left a loving wife, Marilyn, three caring daughters, Jennie, Pattie, and Laura, and two grandchildren.

Attention, high-end audio manufacturers ready to crack the exporting nut: The Consumer">http://www.ce.org">Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) has just released its "General Guide for the Export of Consumer Electronics," providing a step-by-step process which the CEA says manufacturers can use to navigate the often uncharted and challenging regulatory waters of the export market. According to the CEA, the guide focuses on assisting manufacturers in exporting their products to the South American and Pacific Rim countries of Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan. The organization reports that, in a survey of its membership, these countries were identified as primary growth markets of interest.

According to the latest figures from the Consumer">http://www.ce.org">Consumer Electronics Association (CEA), the month of August showed positive gains in the overall factory sales of audio products to dealers. The CEA reports that sales for the month rose six percent compared to the same period last year, resulting in year-to-date sales of $5.3 billion, an 11.2% rise over last year.

Five years after opening a research office in Moscow, BMG">http://www.bmg.de/">BMG Entertainment has launched an affiliate called BMG Russia OOO, which will work from the capital. The intent is to develop the Russian market for BMG products, discover and sign new musical talent—and combat piracy.

A group of researchers has claimed success at cracking four digital audio watermarking technologies presented in a challenge by the Secure">http://www.sdmi.org/">Secure Digital Music Initiative in September. The claim has been denied by David Leibowitz, chairman of Verance">http://www.verance.com/">Verance Corporation, creator of one of the challenged watermarks. SDMI has made no public statement on the claim, and has resolved to remain silent until all 447 submitted hacks are evaluated.