Weekly AUDIO NEWS for Feb. 28, 2001

Justice Department Supports Film Industry on DVD Cracking Ploys - Uncle Sam has praised the ruling of a lower court that banned Hacker magazine from publishing the DeCSS code which allows any programming-savy computer user to decrypt the copyright security on any DVD. The government blasted the defendants' argument that posting the copy code was protected by the First Amendment. The Justice Department said that previously artists and authors only had to worry about bootleg distribution of their works in hard copy form, but "now they face the reality of uncontrollable, online infringement." This was the second time the federal government jumped into the ongoing digital copyright debate, siding with the entertainment industry. Last year the Patent Office and Justice Department both filed a brief that shot down Napster's defense that its file-swapping setup fell under the claims of fair use.

Suit Against Onkyo - In other litigation, Roth Paris Associates, a manufacturer's rep firm, has sued Onkyo Corporation for wrongful termination and breach of contract. The rep firm, specializing in consumer electronics, had represented Onkyo in the New York/New Jersey territory for 20 years, and their disagreement has been going on for the past two years over Onkyo's alleged bad faith termination.

New In-Dash MP3 Player for Car Use - Visteon Corporation, a spin-off of Ford Motor Company, is the first major auto supplier to offer an in-dash MP3 system. The growing acceptance of MP3 has resulted in an interest in hearing owners' expanding collections of music in MP3 form in surroundings away from their computer or hand-held player. The MACH MP3 functions as an AM/FM radio, CD player and MP3 player, with large clearly marked buttons and search and scan capabilities to reduce distractions while driving.

The Impact of the Coming Satellite Radio - Market research and analysis company The Yankee Group predicts that satellite radio may take off as cable TV did and bring about major changes in the radio industry. [Adding still another new monthly fee to pay - along with satellite TV, TiVo, AOL and your Cheese-of-the-Month Club...Ed.] The group sees a million receivers installed in a year and 21 million in five years. The two services - Sirius and XM - will be offering 100 different channels apiece, and most will not have commercials, offer a much wider variety of programming than commercial radio today, and in high-quality digital stereo that will not suffer from fading or multi-path distortion anywhere in the country. Mobile receivers are the target for the new services since 90% of all radio listening takes place in cars, but there will soon also be home receivers available as well.

- John Sunier

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