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The Register: Hollywood Records is attempting to breathe new life into an ailing musical format, the CD. It has unveiled the CDVU+ format, which it hopes will appeal to those looking for something more than currently offered by the standard 12cm audio disc.

According to HR’s Kent Bunt, the format is designed to give consumers the content they want, but in a format they’re used to. CDVU+ will equip music CDs with DVD-style extras, such as song lyrics, feature articles and band photographs.

HR didn’t say how CDVU+ will be priced in comparison to existing chart CDs. Only time, or rather sales, will tell how popular the new format will be, especially when pitted against the might of music downloads.

And, let’s be honest, we’ve been here before. Extended CDs, CD+G and other audio CDs that incorporate data partitions have been around for years and have done little if anything to boost the demand for CDs beyond what it would ordinarily be.

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ZDNet: U.S. sales of digital music albums grew by 60% in the first six months of 2007 but failed to offset the rapid sales decline of compact discs, according to data from Nielsen SoundScan.

Total sales of albums were down by 15% for both digital and CDs, with CDs alone falling 19.3% to 205.7 million units.

Meanwhile, digital album sales jumped about 60% to 23.5 million units.

The recorded music industry is struggling in the early stages of a transition to digital formats, such as MP3, from the dominant CD format. CD sales are declining faster than industry executives and analysts have expected.

Digital music sales are currently dominated by Apple’s iTunes Store, which by some estimates has more than 70% of the market.

The largest music company, Universal Music Group, owned by French media giant Vivendi, had the biggest share, about 27%, of digital sales, and nearly 31.6% of the total market share.

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SCI FI Tech: Even today, there are millions of people who own and listen to records (you know, LPs? Vinyl?). Did you know that there’s music on LPs that was never released on CD? Enter the ELP Declicker, whose sole purpose in life is to remove clicks and background noise (but not the hiss) when transferring music from records to digital.

More importantly, it does all this without the help of a computer. Touted as the only product on the market that will do this, the Declicker will help transfer your analog LPs to CD or MP3 discs without the need for any fancy software. It’s said to work well on reducing noise on 33rpm and 45rpm records, but I’m told it’s not as effective on 78s.

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MarketWatch: EMI Music Chairman Alain Levy recently told an audience at the London Business School that the CD is dead, saying music companies will no longer be able to sell CDs without offering “value-added” material.