Audio Briefs

LAS VEGAS — Sony Music announced at CES that it will offer its first hybrid CD/SACD discs with the fall launch of 15 Bob Dylan titles, which will be produced on Sony Disc Manufacturing's first hybrid-disc replication line. The line goes into operation in May in its Terre Haute, Indiana, factory and will be available for use by third-party clients. Dylan's SACD tracks will be two-channel stereo.

LAS VEGAS — EMI Recorded Music will offer its first U.S. SACD title under an EMI label. Pink Floyd's The Dark Side of the Moon will be available March 3 to mark the 30th anniversary of the recording, which will be remixed and remastered in multichannel surround. Pricing will be "compatible with a regular full price frontline CD release," the company said. Universal Music will expand its 19-title selection of SACDs in the coming months with the entire Police catalog and with the newest albums from such major artists as Peter Gabriel, The Roots, The Wallflowers and Three Doors Down. The Police's Greatest Hits will appear on a hybrid multichannel SACD, while other Police titles will be released simultaneously on stereo SACD and CD. Peter Gabriel will also release his catalog on two-channel SACDs.

LAS VEGAS — ViewSonic will offers its first A/V portable this fall when it launches a player based on the Microsoft's Media2Go platform. Tentatively called a portable video player (PVP), the device features a 10GB hard drive, 2.3-inch 240 by 320 color display, and playback of MP3 files, digital photos, and video recorded off a TV or PC. Additional details weren't released. The Walnut, Calif., company markets tablet PCs, PocketPCs, video displays, and a pair of PCs, due in February and March, that incorporate Microsoft's Windows XP Media Center OS. They're intended to control and add features, such as PVR functions, to a home's main A/V system.