INTERACTIVE DISCS

I enjoyed Randy Lewis’ “Conducting Beethoven by Mouse” (Nov. 12), including his highly complimentary references to Voyager’s acclaimed CD-ROM titles by Robert Winter, who is now president of Calliope Media.

There is clearly a place for very low-cost--and, of course, equally low-featured--products to introduce music to desktop audiences. Calliope titles, starting with “Robert Winter’s Crazy for Ragtime” to be published in January at 49.95, will have all the entertainment features of the budget titles Lewis referred to in his story, but also the other features he missed. For example, “Ragtime” will contain original performances of over 60 rags in both digital and MIDI formats, allow users to create their own desktop jukeboxes or to create their own rags, together with a rich selection of searchable text, sheet music covers and film footage from the turn of the century.

Music is an almost perfect subject matter for interactive products, especially when they are crafted with care and passion, as we are attempting to do.

JAY HEIFETZ

CEO, Calliope Media

Santa Monica