6
 RECORDABLE COMPACT DISC TO DEBUT
 By Dan Gutman

 Tomorrow night (2/7) at a gala reception in New York's Rainbow Room, a
Japanese company named Taiyo Yuden will introduce a technology music lovers
have been anxiously awaiting and record companies dreading--the first
recordable compact disk.

 The gold-surfaced discs, dubbed "CD-R, " have been under development for
three years and will be "fully compatible" with existing CD systems, claims
Taiyo Yuden.  They will be marketed under the brand name "That's."

 The ramifications for the music business are enormous.  Think of it-- perfect
digital CD to CD copies.  You can almost hear the record companies calling
their lawyers, can't you?  If they're putting up such a fight to prevent the
sale of digital audio tape decks (DAT) in the U.S., it's going to be an
all-out WAR to keep the recordable CD out of the hands of the American public.

 The president of Taiyo Yuden, a Mr. Kawada, is obviously concerned. "We do
not foresee selling blank discs generally unless the copyright issue is
resolved," he says.  "We will be entering only the fields that are either free
from copyright or where it is strictly protected."

 In other words, Taiyo Yuden will introduce the technology, but not sell blank
CDs to the public and take the heat for consumers making illegal copies.  They
have not disclosed when a product will be available or how much it will cost. 
If blanks were made available to the public, they could take away the
incentive for piracy by pricing the discs at $10- $15.

 So who are they going to sell them to? According to Taiyo Yuden, a radio
station in Japan has begun using CD-R to produce classical FM programs. The
technology could also be used in recording studios.

 I found this announcement of the recordable CD to be particularly exciting,
because I almost got a free trip to Japan out of it.

 This past Monday at five o'clock I received a call from Taiyo Yuden's
publicity person.  She told me that they wanted to fly one American journalist
to Japan to witness the first recording made on a compact disk by Carlos
Alomar, a musician who has played guitar for David Bowie. Would I be
interested?

 "It will be first class all the way," she said temptingly.  "You'll be
treated like a king."


                                      
 Hmm, I thought.  If I'm the sole representative of the Western
 Hemisphere to witness this historic recording, I'll be the only one with the
story. Top editors will be tripping over each other trying to get me to write
about it for their publications.  Maybe I can even sell my story to the
National Inquirer.

 On the other hand, why did they pick ME?  I don't usually report on audio.
There are plenty of expert journalists who know that business far better than
I do.

 I don't even OWN a CD player.  I'm the type who is waiting until they simply
don't sell LPs in the stores anymore before I'll break down and spend the
money for digital audio.

 Either these Taiyo Yuden people don't know what they're doing, I decided, or
the guy they REALLY wanted to fly to Japan couldn't make it.

 Furthermore, I thought, I have my pride.  I have my journalistic integrity. 
I don't have to take free trips to get stories.  I won't be a stooge to the
Japanese conglomerates. After fifteen minutes of reflection, I called her back
with my firm answer.

 "When do I leave?" I said.

 "Tomorrow morning," she replied. "And you'll be flying back on
 Sunday."

 What?!  That doesn't even leave me enough time to build up a decent jet lag. 
After some serious soul searching, I decided to turn down this chance of a
lifetime and join all the other grubby reporters at the press conference in
New York.

 I may not have made it to Japan, but at least I'll get to see the Rainbow
Room.


                             
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