Disc Makers manufactures CD and DVD duplicators and printers, and offers media duplication services to musicians and other content creators. The company recently introduced its most affordable do-it-yourself duplicator yet — the Pico ($699). Weighing only 6.6 pounds, the Pico features a single drive with automated 16× DVD and 48× CD duplication and a 25-disc capacity. It can produce as many as 12 CD-Rs or 6 DVD+±Rs in an hour and run unattended for hours at a time. Relay mode lets you queue up several masters at the same time.

In addition to full-size discs, the Pico handles 3-inch discs and CardDiscs by means of the included adapter. DiscForge (Mac/Win), a software application that provides audio playlist and data editing, comes bundled with the Pico. You get free lifetime technical support, 100 blank CDs or 50 DVDs, as well as a discount on future media purchases. Disc Makers; tel. (800) 468-9353 or (856) 663-9030; fax (856) 661-3458; email info@discmakers.com; Web www.discmakers.com.

Allegro Rainbow's Piano Wizard (Mac/Win, $79 to $199) is a multilevel computer game for ages three and above that teaches children to play the correct note at the right time and to sight-read.

The program is available in two editions, and each edition gives you with a choice of three hardware bundles. The Easy Mode edition, which has 100 songs and 100 exercises, is $149.95 with the Keystation 49e, $99.95 with the eKeys 37, and $79.95 with the USB/MIDI interface.

The Premier version has 300 songs and reads Standard MIDI Files (so you can provide students with tunes of your choice). It is $199.99 with the M-Audio Keystation 49e keyboard, $149.95 with the M-Audio eKeys 37 keyboard, and, for those who already have a MIDI keyboard, $139.95 with the M-Audio Uno 1×1 USB/MIDI interface.

The user interface features large buttons and lots of color and visual effects. At the first level of the program, students encounter a choice of four virtual environments: a futuristic city, outer space, an underwater reef, and a prehistoric world. A virtual piano keyboard with color-coded keys runs across the top or side, and its colors match a set of included stickers that you apply to a MIDI keyboard. Students see a series of flying objects, and if they play the correct key just as an object crosses the matching note on the virtual keyboard, the correct note is triggered and the object transforms into something else. If they get a string of notes right, they're playing a song.

The game changes and increases in difficulty at each succeeding level, eventually teaching the student to read standard notation. Allegro Rainbow; tel. (877) 742-6604 or (813) 661-2943; fax (888) 999-4203; email chris@pianowizard.com; Web www.pianowizard.com.

Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov's Principles of Orchestration (Dover Publications, 1964) is one of the finest orchestration books ever published. Now Garritan Interactive presents this classic work as a multimedia, self-paced course, delivered over the Web. And it's free!

This 26-lesson course gives you 275 animated scores so that you can hear the music as you follow the score. Online discussion forums for each lesson provide access to orchestration experts and enable participants to share work examples. Students are expected to have a basic knowledge of orchestral instruments and must be able to read music, including treble, bass, and alto clefs. The course works with any Web browser and requires Adobe Flash Player 8.

Although the course started months ago, you can pick up the lessons at any point, review older lessons, and participate in the forums 24/7. Garritan Interactive; Web www.garritan.com (follow the link) or www.northernsounds.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=77.

We have long been able to read and create musical scores on a computer using notation programs, but reading them while performing is often a problem because of the need to turn the pages without taking one's hands off of the instrument. The Bili Footime Page/Score Turner (Mac/Win, $59; $99 with software; $142 with software and laptop stand) is the newest solution to this problem, allowing you to turn the pages of your electronic score using a footswitch. If you have a projector, the entire class can follow the score together. The Footime consists of a footswitch (available in black, silver, blue, or red) and software for Windows. An optional stand for your laptop computer is also available.

Windows users can create e-scores in the optional Footime entry-level notation software (Win only), which is from the same developer as Notation Technologies' Play Music. Even without the software, you can use the page-turning system with e-scores that are saved in PDF format. This includes music scanned from sheet music and saved as PDF files and music created in a notation program that saves files as PDFs. Bili, Inc.; tel. (626) 333-8718; fax (626) 333-8797; email sales@biliinc.com; Web www.biliinc.com.

Organizing and scheduling solo and ensemble festivals can be time-consuming and frustrating, but LBG Enterprises' WinEnsemble 2.1c (Win, $199) can help. The software lets you make complete schedules and reports for an almost unlimited number of entries including two-day events. You can track which student is playing what piece and at what time and resolve student-accompanist schedule conflicts.

The software can track start- and end times and meal breaks; store contact information for each school and judge; and match judges to events, using event codes (Texas UIL event codes are preprogrammed, but you can alter them). WinEnsemble can import student data from LBG's WinBand and WinChoir programs and from text files. Onscreen help is provided.

You'll need a Pentium 166 or faster CPU, Windows 95 or higher, 32 MB of RAM, and at least 20 MB of hard-disk space. LBG Enterprises; email WinBand@aol.com; fax (888) 946-2263; Web www.winband.com.

Digidesign and M-Audio are offering three new music-production packages for music educators and students. At their core is the Pro Tools Academic digital audio sequencer with the Academic Pack software bundle (Mac/Win), which consists of fully functional copies of Propellerhead Reason Adapted 3, Ableton Live Lite 5 Digidesign Edition, and Celemony Melodyne Uno Essential — each of which integrate with Pro Tools via ReWire technology. The bundle also has four powerful RTAS plug-ins for Pro Tools: FXpansion BFD Lite, IK Multimedia SampleTank 2 SE, AmpliTube LE, and T-RackS EQ.

The Pro Tools Ozone Academic Kit ($299.95; $279 each for ten or more, with school P.O.) partners the two software packages with an academic version of M-Audio's Ozone MIDI keyboard controller. The 25-key Ozone incorporates a two-in, two-out USB audio interface; two MIDI outputs; and a built-in hardware authorization key that lets you run the accompanying software on any workstation without having to separately authorize each installation.

For educators and students who are on the go, M-Audio has the MobilePre Academic Kit ($249.95, $229.95 each for ten or more). Along with the software, it features an academic version of the portable MobilePre 2-in, 2-out USB audio interface and phantom-powered preamp with built-in authorization key.

Finally, there is the Pro Tools M-Powered Academic Kit ($149.95; five-seat lab pack $599.95). This software-only package works with any Pro Tools M-Powered — compatible audio and MIDI interface. It has an iLok USB smart key for copy protection. M-Audio; tel. (800) 969-6434 or (626) 633-9050; fax (626) 633-9060; email info@m-audio.com; Web www.m-audio.com.