This sound like a job for $/ the INPUT RECORD SEPARATOR. By default this is "\n" so we read one line at a time. If we set it to "\n\n" then we read in chunks of data until we find two newlines (ie one blank line). Thus:

{
  local $/ = "\n\n";
  while( my $record = <DATA> ) {
      print "This is a record:\n", $record;
      # do stuff with record
  }
}

__DATA__
This is a record

This
is
a
multiline
record

This is just another
address book record
[download]

Remeber $/ is a global var so localise its effect of you may get some nasty suproses elsewhere in you code.

cheers

tachyon

s&&rsenoyhcatreve&&&s&n.+t&"$'$`$\"$\&"&ee&&y&srve&&d&&print