January 11, 1986

When the compact disk player first appeared in the United States three years ago at prices of $1,000 and up, it was viewed by many, including the American electronics industry, as a toy for rich audiophiles. But prices have plunged as low as $150, sending sales far beyond the most optimistic expectations, and suddenly the audio industry sees its future differently. For the first time, there is open talk of compact disks overtaking and then replacing records, if not immediately, then in 5 to 10 years. Last year, sales leaped to about 1 million players, and many expect 1986 sales to top 2 million, turning them into a half-billion-dollar business.

Cabinet officials have ironed out most of the sharpest differences within the Administration over a Presidential order for voluntary goals, instead of strict quotas, for Federal contractors in hiring women and minority workers, Administration officials said today. The officials said the two key disputants, Attorney General Edwin Meese 3d and Labor Secretary Bill Brock, were moving toward an agreement calling for ''voluntary goals.'' Such wording would satisfy Mr. Meese's insistence that contractors not be legally required to meet the goals. He had, in effect, urged the elimination of the current executive order, a move Mr. Brock resisted. The order was issued in 1965 by President Johnson.

Administration officials said today that there was a possibility that economic sanctions similar to those imposed on Libya might be levied against Syria, but that there were no active plans to do so. Amid sometimes contradictory comments by different officials, Robert B. Oakley, the head of the State Department's counterterrorism office, said today that he and other high officials stood by a statement on Thursday that there could be sanctions against Syria if its support for the Abu Nidal Palestinian group could be traced to future terrorist actions. Lack Link to Airport Attacks The Administration has accused the Abu Nidal group, which is opposed to the mainstream Palestine Liberation Organization faction led by Yasir Arafat, of carrying out terrorist attacks, including the attacks Dec. 27 at the Rome and Vienna airports. Mr. Oakley, in an interview, said there were no plans for sanctions against Syria at the moment because the United States lacked the direct evidence against Syria that it said it had against Libya, linking it to the airport attacks. Those attacks left 19 people dead, including 5 Americans and 4 of the attackers.

Texaco Inc. won a major victory yesterday in its legal battle with the Pennzoil Company when a Federal judge ruled that Texaco would not have to post a $12 billion bond to appeal the tangled court case in Texas. United States District Judge Charles L. Brieant, sitting in White Plains, said in a written opinion laced with criticism of the requirements of Texas legal procedure that the ''concept of posting a bond of more than $12 billion is just so absurd, so impractical and so expensive that it hardly bears discussion.'' Judge Brieant ruled, however, that Texaco, which is based in Harrison, N.Y., would have to post a smaller bond to secure Pennzoil's interests, and that $1 billion was an appropriate figure. Arguments to Be Heard He granted Texaco 20 days to make its own proposal on the proper size of the bond and said he would make a decision after receiving that proposal and hearing arguments from Pennzoil's lawyers.

Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, arguing that terrorism has to be fought by legal means, warned today that retaliatory strikes against targets in Libya might produce ''much greater chaos.'' ''I must warn you that I do not believe in retaliatory strikes that are against international law,'' she said at a news conference for American correspondents here. They pressed her repeatedly on Britain's response to President Reagan's call for measures against Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi's Government. Her response about retaliatory strikes came after she had repeatedly ruled out economic sanctions as an effective way of countering terrorism.