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  • Is This It

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    • The Strokes
    • The Strokes set the music world on fire with this 2001 album, with headlines declaring that the New York band was here to save Rock and Roll. While the band hasn't made as much of a splash since t

  • Bowie at Beeb: Best of BBC Radio 68-72

    • 10 out of 10
    • David Bowie
    • The companion CD to a BBC television concert, BBC Radio Theatre has some of the best renditions of many of Bowie's best songs throughout his career. "I'm Afraid of Americans" is substantial

  • Every Day: The Best of the Verve Years

    • 8 out of 10
    • Joe Williams
    • Joe Williams was Figure Two in my three-man education in singing. A brilliant vocalist, scatter, and interpreter of jazz and blues, Williams produces music that's totally unique, yet sounds so effortl
  • Physical Graffiti

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    • Led Zeppelin
    • This album bears every flavor of genius from the five records that came before. It is, I believe, the band's finest. With Physical Graffiti, Zep came raging back to their musical home territory -- har
  • The Printz

    • 8 out of 10
    • Bumblebeez 81
    • Part white rap, part alternative, part pop, and part rock, the Bumblebeez grabbed a hold of me with "Pony Ride," and didn't let go.

      This group does a marvelous job of moving seamlessly be

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Editorial

Lull in HD Disc War Suggests Toshiba Has Nowhere to Turn

Not much has been happening on the HD DVD front as that HD disc format has taken successive, crushing blows from Warner, Netflix and Best Buy. This is a critical time for Toshiba, and the equipment price drops and consumer deals are likely just designed to hold the fort until a deal is worked out. However, Toshiba is in a very poor position to deal now.

This is the time when Toshiba is likely trying to work out some kind of deal with Sony. However, they may have waited too long as Internet time has generated events faster than Toshiba’s ability to absorb and react.

If Toshiba were to propose any kind of deal with Sony, it would have to be rejected based on the current strength of the Blu-ray format. No money will change hands. No deals will be made that allow Toshiba to save face. Toshiba isn’t likely to receive anything in return for abandoning the format -- except a request to not slam the door on the way out.

I suspect that Toshiba is trying every angle right now, in concert with their studio partners. The studios, on the other hand, don’t want to be blamed for killing the format, so they’re going to let Toshiba take the fall and remain blameless themselves.

About the only thing Toshiba can do right now is beg Sony for a BD license to make players and try to salvage their position in the HD disc market. Sony might even reject that proposal since it might tempt Toshiba to manufacture a cheap, dual format player in a last ditch stand to guarantee the HD DVD format, just as DVD+R and DVD-R have coexisted.

I don’t see a pleasant end to this war, and after a long, quiet period of desperation and blocked moves, the format war may die in a rather spectacular way, much sooner than we expected just a few months ago.

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