Trans World, which operates f.y.e., Suncoast and other retail chains, posted a $11.8 million first quarter loss. Total sales dropped 19% to $233 million and same-store revenue dropped 6%. Same-store music sales dropped 23% on a comp basis while sales from the top 50 titles dropped 30% on a comp basis. CD sales accounted for 37% of revenue, down from 44% the year before.

During the conference call, president and COO Jim Litwak said the company is committed to improving its music market share. CFO John Sullivan said stores have reduced by 10% the square footage of CDs and they see an opportunity in "secondary and tertiary genres."

The company has been searching for success with in-store digital kiosks. It will soon test a music download service at stores in Albany, NY and the Mall of America in Bloomington, MN. The service, which has yet to have tracks from all four major music groups, will reportedly download music to iPods and other portable music players. Although the article does not mention formats, the implication is the service will offer MP3 files.

Trans World has tried to get its Mix & Burn kiosks off the ground for a number of years but has appeared to have little to no success. A year ago the company said the kiosks were showing "promising, but still inconclusive results." Monday's article in the Albany Business Review says the Mix & Burn kiosk at the Albany store "was shrunk and moved to a corner as part of a recent downsizing of the store."

Go here for the 8-K filing with a transcription of the conference call.