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Things are looking up for high-resolution audio, with price drops for DVD-Audio discs announced by one major record label in a move to attract a larger audience.

Michael Fremer heard that the <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com//digitalsourcereviews/605/">Alesis MasterLink ML-9600 Hard Disk/CD-R Recorder</A> "can sound better than all but the absolute top-drawer analog," and, of course, had to investigate. Mikey 'splains why audiophiles should take note of a machine generally used as a mastering tool by the recording industry.

Some Webcasters were given a stay of execution in late June, when the Librarian of Congress announced that they would be required to pay royalties at half the rate proposed by an arbitration panel last winter.

SACD partisans Sony and Philips continue to release new disc players that also decode DVD-Video, but not DVD-Audio. And arch-DVD-A supporter Meridian, as well as companies such as McIntosh, are releasing DVD-A and DVD-V players that don't do SACD. But there are exceptions, notably <A HREF="http://www.pioneerelectronics.com">Pioneer</A&gt;, who debuted the first widely available "universal" player, the <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com//digitalsourcereviews/515/">DV-AX10 SACD/DVD-A/CD player</A>, last year.

It's been a long wait, but we're finally starting to see high-bandwidth IEEE 1394 digital audio connections on the back of DVD-A/SACD players (see <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/news/11369/">related story</A>), as first <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/news/10049/">hinted at by Yamaha</A> five years ago. A key ingredient for getting the beleaguered 1394 (or FireWire or iLink) format moving was the inclusion of copy-protection protocols that restrict unfettered consumer use of the digital audio content.

The times they are a changing, and many audiophiles have added video to their audio system. Others have kept their two-channel systems intact by creating separate home-theater systems. How about you?

It's still too early in the game to guess what a profitable music download business might look like, but it's clear that it won't involve highly restricted access&mdash;or high prices.