Digital Audio Broadcasting

Sony Corp. plans to introduce its first HD radio products in July, joining the growing group of companies seeking to make the next-generation digital radio technology a standard feature in audio products. HD radio is a new form of digital radio broadcasting that allows radio stations to deliver extra music content on up to four side channels that piggyback on the frequency it already uses.

Napster presents: free music. No, I'm not stuck back at the turn of the century, when Napster was launched and it became notorious for allowing the world to illegally share music online. That version of the company was shut down in 2002 under the weight of music industry lawsuits. This week, the revived Napster -- now a fee-based music subscription service -- started to act like it's 1999, allowing nonmembers to access songs in its 2-million-track catalog for free.

The Sevens, a beer-and-wine tavern with an oak bar worn smooth by decades of drinkers, has two amenities that set it apart: a real cork dart board and arguably one of the best jukeboxes east of the Mississippi River. With such selections as early Patsy Cline and rare Rolling Stones tunes, the jukebox -- more than the darts or the dark wood benches -- sets a rollicking mood that pulls people through the door.

MP3 players and Apple iPods, those electronic darlings that are transforming the way we listen to music, are finding some travel-related uses beyond merely giving airplane passengers a personalized concert at 500 mph. The gadgets have given rise to the podcast, a sort of news and information show starring whoever has the time and desire to use this alternative media for the spoken word. When Apple launched a podcast directory on iTunes (www.apple.

The radio industry, in a move to take on growing competition from satellite radio, iPods and the Internet, has formed an alliance to step up the rollout of digital radio. The group's goal is to offer new and compelling content using high-definition digital radio technology, which produces CD-quality sound and eliminates the static, hiss and fades associated with analog signals, top radio executives said.

Three decades ago, Jim Watkins counted himself among radio's pioneers when he helped convert urban contemporary station WHUR-FM to stereo. Watkins, now general manager of the 24,000-watt station here, is embracing new technology again. This time, it's high-definition digital broadcasts, which boast CD-quality sound and allow stations to transmit extras like real-time stock prices and sports scores to special receivers.

Federal regulators are prepared to approve a plan that will create a new breed of radio stations that can be heard anywhere in the country and will probably be the first pay radio. After five years of work, the Federal Communications Commission is expected to set aside a portion of the airwaves for the service today. The service is to be transmitted nationally or regionally by satellite in digital CD-quality sound, FCC officials said.

The cadre of companies that are selling an array of wireless phone services make much of the distinction between digital cellular networks and a newer breed of products known as personal communications services, or PCS. But they certainly don't have to. "They both use the same technology, and the systems are built very much the same," said Mark Lowenstein, vice president of wireless research at Yankee Group, a Boston-based market research firm.

Seeking to get a jump on competitors in the emerging digital mobile phone market, AT&T Corp. on Wednesday announced a wireless telephone network that will provide digital paging, voicemail and caller ID phone service in 40 urban markets. The service, which will be available in Ventura, Sacramento and Fresno but not in Los Angeles, requires just one phone to call, send and receive voicemail and to receive text and numeric messages from personal computers and text dispatch services.

Federal regulators Thursday set aside space on the airwaves for a new coast-to-coast radio service that would beam compact disc-quality sound to miniature satellite dishes in cars and homes across the country. The Federal Communications Commission voted to allocate a portion of the nation's radio spectrum for the new technology, which has the potential to broadcast audio programming to every community in the United States, no matter how remote.