At the higher price, cassette sales dropped.

Add cassette sales and the movie could be the biggest video ever.

In 1991, Kagan figures showed a 14.1 percent increase for cassette sales and a 2 percent gain for rentals.

While this form of raï increased cassette sales, its association with mixed dancing, an obscene act according to orthodox Islamic views, led to government-backed suppression.

The erosion of cassette sales had been masked by the growth of CD's.

And a new hot-selling rap or pop artist can substantially boost a company's cassette sales.

This is a 6 percent decrease from 1993, and part of a continuing trend in which cassette sales have shrunk by about 6 percent annually for the last five years.

That's quite a lag time, to be sure, but in this case, distributors say, the disk was delayed so as not to distract from cassette sales.

In fact, cassette sales are outperforming rentals, which are reported as flat.

But the new emphasis on cassette sales has simplified the mechanics somewhat, and B. Dalton is trying again at 50 stores in shopping malls around the country.