Wes Phillips

George Saunders checks out the motherland.

Safari doesn't shake hands with this app, but it looks like it would be a nice addition to my toolbar. If you use it, let me know how it works.

There have been even further developments on the Sony BMG root kit debacle since the last time we updated you. The reports that Sony artists were unhappy that the company had been caught compromising consumers' computers were confirmed by Newsweek. That magazine reported that Trey Anastasio's Shine, which was released on November 1, the day after the story broke, sold 15,000 copies in its first week, but plummeted to 7,000 by week two, when the story was all over the press. Since then, all 52 albums with the XCD "protection" have been pulled. Patrick Jordon, director of marketing at Red Light Management, which reps Anastasio, said, "It's been damaging, and certainly we're going to discuss that with the label."

On Friday, April 29, AP reported that Cheap Trick and the Allman Brothers Band were suing Sony Music over the record label's payment for music downloads through Napster and the iTunes Music Service.