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Finding a good source of audio advice and equipment can be tough. So, from time to time, we like to ask whether you've found a good high-end audio dealer.

Music publishing organizations such as ASCAP and BMI have long worked out licensing deals with radio broadcasters, who pay royalties in exchange for playing music over the air. A <A HREF="http://www.loc.gov/copyright/">US Copyright Office</A> panel is now suggesting that online broadcasters also pay royalties, this time directly to the record labels, in a recommendation that has so far left all parties unhappy, particularly broadcasters.

<A HREF="http://www.napster.com">Napster</A&gt; may have finally won a round in court. The Federal District judge in the music industry's ongoing case against the file-sharing service has allowed for the possibility that the plaintiffs may have abused their own copyright privileges in the launch of their online music services, MusicNet and pressplay.

In the record industry's <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/news/11261/">ongoing battle</A> against its customers, score one for the consumer. Amid recent industry rumors that Universal Music Group has retreated from its position of adding restrictions to all of its new CDs, a <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/news/11134/">lawsuit</A&gt; over a Charley Pride release has been settled in California, paving the way to alert the public to playback restrictions on discs.

One of the most revered names in the audio industry is seeking legal protection from its creditors. On November 19, <A HREF="http://www.nakamichi.com">Nakamichi Corporation Japan</A> "applied to the court of Japan for a civil rehabilitation," in the words of a company press release on the development, issued the next day. On the 19th, Nakamichi stock closed at &#165;22/share (approximately 17&#162;); the Tokyo Stock Exchange announced that the company would be de-listed effective May 20.

<B>Introduction</B>

A follow-up to last week's question: Which of your used bargains is the crown jewel?