US music market prepares for possible replacements to CDs

THE AMERICAN music industry is gearing for a huge marketing campaign to promote the new format which is being widely predicted to replace CDs. DVD-Audio (DVD-A) is being backed by Warner Music Group, EMI Recorded Music and BMG Entertainment. Hundreds of albums in the format are to be released in the next 12 months. Said Los Angeles-based mastering engineer Stephen Marcussen, "I think the biggest benefit is surround sound. It's like flipping a switch when you play the difference between stereo and surround for people. I do that quite a bit, too, because I sit in a room where I can. People walk in and see the five speakers and say, 'Can I hear that?' The one thing I walk away with every time is that people are just blown away by 5.1.

DVD-Audio is even more than advanced resolution and surround sound. The 4.7 gigabyte disc has room for all kinds of additional graphical content, such as liner notes, discographies, biographies, still photos, interviews and even videos. While many lamented losing the space for art or photography on the 12x12 inch LP jacket, DVD-Audio far surpasses that format's ability to convey added content, allowing a multimedia package in which sound, picture and video converge. With capacity to present a kind of coffee table book come to life, DVD-Audio's limits exist solely in the minds of its creators.