CD-Rom -- Audio Vision Cds

Audio Vision CDs Philips Media Mac $20 -----------------------------------------

It's both a full 45-minute audio CD and a multimedia CD-ROM title. It's the Audio Vision CD, and I think it might be the wave of the future for pop music releases.

The new products take advantage of a CD standard called "mixed-mode" that combines the music CD you buy in music stores and the multimedia CD-ROM you find at computer shops. If you play them in an audio CD player, they play like any other CD, but if you pop it into your Mac CD-ROM drive, you can accompany the music with artsy backgrounds or use it as an interactive multimedia title.

While the standard has been around for a while, these new products, from CD-technology inventor Philips and Ardent Records, are the first that have been extensively promoted.

Content includes an entire CD full of music. But the AudioVision CD format actually adds value. For example, you can see the lyrics to every song, something that became almost unreadable in the transition from the 144-square inch surface of the LP cover to the 23-square inch surface of the CD liner.

There are, of course, music videos, four per disc. There are interviews with the producer, a visit to the band while on the road and other frosting that gives you a feel for the band and the individuals in it.

The titles feature a pair of Little Rock, Ark., bands, Techno-Squid Eats Parliament and 2 Minutes Hate. While both titles

shared creative and programming resources, they are quite different. Techno-Squid's interface is perfectly clean and predictable. 2 Minutes is more everything - more colorful, more offbeat, more surprising and more difficult to navigate. Both are creatively very interesting and technically solid, a relief from all the mediocrity and blandness that gluts shelf space.

If you're interested in checking one out but don't know either band, I recommend TechnoSquid, unless you like the Seattle sound, in which case try 2 Minutes Hate (which tries to be Pearl Jam, but isn't in the same weight class).

One can never be sure about what technology will catch on and what won't, but if entertainment value means anything, I suspect AudioVision CDs will be a hit.