Compact Discs

The cast album of a Broadway musical that was set in a record store finally gets to occupy space in one with its belated debut on CD. "High Fidelity," a stage adaptation of the Nick Hornby novel, has been released in original cast recording form -- even though the high-spirited tuner lasted only 32 performances last fall.

There's a reason most David Bowie retrospectives focus on his material from the '70s. During that inventive pop decade, the colorful Englishman turned out as many or more quality albums as any of his fellow Rock and Roll Hall of Fame members, including Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen and Neil Young.

Walt Disney Co. music label Hollywood Records is releasing a new CD format with enhanced multimedia features in an effort to draw consumers away from online music. The CDVU+ format allows people to see exclusive videos and pictures of the artist through a digital magazine, company executives said. Four or five CDs will come out in the new format this year, including a re-release of Hilary Duff's album "Dignity," they said.

In what is sure to hit a sour note with Hollywood studios plotting their Oscar campaigns, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has banned the mailing of music CDs and related materials to Oscar voters judging the best original score and original song categories.

A new CD arrives at record stores Tuesday with a curious bit of text on the cover: "A new othrophonic high fidelity recording." Right above that phrase there's a picture of a Victrola phonograph and a dog with its head cocked in puzzlement. No, it's not some new digital format -- it's just the latest re-release from Elvis Presley, the once and future king of rock 'n' roll.

Most newspapers have built their long-term growth strategies around the Internet. But a Santa Monica company is betting that an old piece of new technology, the CD-ROM, will help papers bridge the gap to the digital age. In recent months, IMedia International Inc. has reached agreement with two of the nation's largest newspapers to distribute within their Sunday editions CDs chock-full of movie previews, music samples, video games, comics, celebrity interviews and advertisements.

With Audioslave's new "Out of Exile" debuting at No. 1 on the national album chart on Wednesday, there's good news for rock 'n' roll and producer Rick Rubin. Audioslave extended rock's hold on the top chart spot to six weeks by selling 263,000 copies in its first week, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

Music fans who copy CDs for all their pals, take note: It may be time to shed some friends. Executives at EMI Group on Monday said they planned to begin rolling out CDs with technology designed to limit copying. The technology allows buyers to burn onto CDs only three full copies of a disc's songs, and the burned discs cannot be copied. Sony BMG is heading even faster down the same road.

After a chorus of criticism, Sony Corp.'s music division said it was distributing a free software patch to reveal hidden files that automatically installed onto hard drives when some of its music CDs were played on personal computers. The offending technology was designed to thwart music piracy.

Tommy Bahama executives weren't dreaming of a white Christmas when they decided to sell custom compact discs in their stores this holiday season. More like something in tropical pastels. Aiming for a compilation of songs that would best reflect the resort-style clothier's relaxed, sand-between-the-toes image, they turned to Jeff Daniel, a 36-year-old "lifestyle music" consultant who helps upscale retailers select the music that goes into CDs sold at their checkout counters.