LATEST ADDITIONS

As reported <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/news/11171/">last week</A>, the US Justice Department has launched an anti-trust investigation of the music industry's strategy for online distribution. The probe intensified during the fourth week of October, with investigators presenting at least 10 "civil investigation demands" (CIDs) to participants in the music industry's nascent Internet ventures, <A HREF="http://www.musicnet.com">MusicNet</A&gt; and <A HREF="http://www.pressplay.com">pressplay</A&gt;.

Kalman Rubinson says he "anticipated the installation of the <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com//amplificationreviews/437/">TacT Audio RCS 2.0 digital equalizer/preamplifier</A> with mixed emotions." Would his hard work at setting up the perfect listening environment be rendered irrelevant in the face of digital signal processing? Or would the future of audio unfold at his feet?

Times are tough in the online audio delivery market, with long-established start-ups struggling to keep pace with competing formats from Microsoft as well as the ever pervasive MP3. Particularly hard hit has been <A HREF="http://www.liquidaudio.com">Liquid Audio</A>, which along with competitor Real Audio, has for the last few years attempted to create the <I>de facto</I> standard for online music commerce.

Record stores are devoting a diminishing amount of space to classical music, to the dismay of music lovers. Online distribution may offer hope for the genre, according to an <A HREF="http://www.nytimes.com/2001/10/21/arts/music/21TOMM.html">in-depth report</A> by Anthony Tommasini in the October 21 edition of the <I>New York Times</I>.

People come to high-end audio with different needs and expectations&mdash;some fairly reasoned, some slightly more highfalutin. Some listeners want to get as close as possible to an immersion experience, be it of a live performance or of some more idealized studio ecstasy. Others are enraptured by the status and sex appeal of big, hot-rod components, and simply dig <I>gear</I>&mdash;much as they might dig the visceral rush of a high-performance car. Still others compulsively upgrade their equipment in search of some unattainable perfection. But no matter the initial motivation, all roads eventually lead back to a love of music.

Whenever we <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/showvote.cgi?168">run a poll</A> asking readers what record companies can do to reduce piracy, one of the most common gripes is that CD prices are too high. Apparently the <A HREF="http://www.narm.com/">National Association of Recording Merchandisers</A> (NARM) and major music retailers across the country agree. They also are looking for better-sounding formats to goose sales.

With SACD and DVD-Audio rumbling off in the distance, is the high-end CD player dead? Michael Fremer takes a listen to the <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com//digitalsourcereviews/433/">Musical Fidelity Nu-Vista 3D CD player</A> and reports that the company decided it was "better to concentrate efforts on trying to optimize the sound of the two billion CDs already in play than divert company resources into developing technology and products aimed at an uncertain digital future and an unsettled customer base."