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The last week of July was a busy one for music industry attorneys, and by some measure a sucessful one. As almost everyone in the world is aware, on Wednesday, July 26, the <A HREF="http://www.riaa.com/">Recording Industry Association of America</A> won a round in its fight against <A HREF="http://www.napster.com/">Napster</A&gt;, a San Mateo, CA-based software company that enables the sharing of MP3 music files over the Internet. On that day, in a US Federal court in San Francisco, Judge Marilyn Patel decreed that the widespread sharing of music using Napster was a form of wholesale copyright violation, and ordered the service shut down effective Friday, July 28 at midnight. Napster appealed and won a stay of Judge Patel's injunction that will enable it to remain online and in business until at least mid-September.

Tempted to just cut'n'paste his earlier Arcam integrated amplifier review into his rundown of the <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com//digitalsourcereviews/251/">Arcam FMJ CD23 CD player</A>, Lonnie Brownell explains that, "after all, it's the same story: British manufacturer gives highly praised product a slick new case to entice those who find their Alpha line too downscale in appearance, adds a few internal tweaks to make it a bit more interesting, and kicks the price up by $400." Instead, he does the right thing in a complete review that even answers the vital question: Should this Arcam be your last CD player?

For the millions of fans who search the Internet for their favorite music, one thing always required is the name of the artist or song sought. But what if you don't know exactly what you want to hear, and would rather search for the <I>kind</I> of music that suits your mood?

The makers of new audio formats like SACD and DVD-Audio are betting that consumers are looking for something more than they already have. Reader Norm Strong wonders what it is <I>Stereophile</I>'s readers are looking for, and why.

Several <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/news/10750/">class-action lawsuits</A> have been thrown against the music industry in the wake of its admission that it engaged in a price-fixing scheme known as Minimum Advertised Pricing, or MAP. The policy arose as a response to widespread CD price wars in the early 1990s that drove prices of some CDs below $10 each, and was intended to prevent mass-market merchandisers from offering CDs below cost as lures to pull customers into stores. The MAP policy was officially discontinued after the Federal Trade Commission <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/news/10744/">reached a settlement</A> with the industry in May of this year.

Sometimes a product can take a while to reach its potential. As Jonathan Scull writes, "First, the <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com//digitalsourcereviews/249/">Accuphase DP-75V CD player</A> took a full two weeks to warm up and pull its act together. If anything, it was <I>too</I> polite, warm, and over-the-top bloomy when I first lit it up. The '75 requires a <I>long</I> warm-up period. But wait . . . just wait for it." When the wait was over, J-10 filed his observations in detail.

According to a new report, the number of adults going online to access music-related content has exploded in the few months, increasing 48% between December 1999 and March 2000. These numbers are based on recent findings released by market analysts <A HREF="http://www.cyberdialogue.com">Cyber Dialogue</A>, who say that "The dramatic growth in online music users can be attributed to the media's newfound obsession with Napster, Gnutella, and MP3. When combined with a marked increase in online music offerings and the proliferation of file-sharing software, the increase in demand for online music makes perfect sense."