LATEST ADDITIONS

After enduring <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/news/10942/">frustrating delays</A>, <A HREF="http://www.xmradio.com">XM Satellite Radio</A> announced the successful launch last week of its first satellite, which the company has named Rock. XM reports that lift-off occurred off the Sea Launch Odyssey Launch Platform in the open waters of the Pacific Ocean on the equator, and that the first signals from the satellite were captured by a ground station in Australia a little over an hour later, as planned.

As Shannon Dickson puts it, the <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com//loudspeakerreviews/328/">Audio Artistry Beethoven loudspeaker system</A> "is a four-piece, bi-amplified, dynamic dipole design which has been taken to the <I>n</I>th degree of refinement." After much time spent reveling in the speaker's sonic splendor, Dickson arrives at his aural conclusion.

Savvy music fans willing to ignore the built-in copying restrictions on consumer-targeted CD recorders have always had their computer-based CD and DVD recorders and hard drives to play with, especially when it comes to manipulating MP3 files. Maybe not for much longer. A new content-protection approach is attempting to tighten the digital noose around the necks of PC users who have spent the last few years virtually unencumbered when it comes to&mdash;as Apple so succinctly <A HREF="http://www.apple.com/hardware/ads/ripmixburn.html">puts it</A>&mdash;rip, mix, burn.

Is the world ready for another portable music format? <A HREF="http://www.dataplay.com/">DataPlay Incorporated</A> thinks so. On March 12, the Boulder, CO&ndash;based company announced an agreement with <A HREF="http://www.bmg.com/">Bertelsmann Music Group</A> to release new titles later this year on miniature pre-recorded discs, which are about the size of a quarter.

Recorded music was a $14.3 billion business in the United States last year, according to the newly published 2000 Consumer Profile from the <A HREF="http://www.riaa.com/">Recording Industry Association of America</A> (RIAA). Released March 13, the report details who music buyers are, what they are buying, and how much they are spending.

There are a variety of ways to empty a large bucket of water: The entire contents can be quickly dumped in a dramatic rush, or a small hole can be punched in the bottom, allowing a smaller but continual flow over an extended period of time. Digital data can be seen as the water in the DVD "bucket," with 24/192 multi-channel sound being the equivalent of a big audio splash.

Tweaks can rear their pointy little heads in the most unexpected of places, as <I>Stereophile</I>'s inimitable Jonathan Scull discovered recently when he stubbed his toe. In <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com//finetunes/325/">Fine Tunes #33</A>, J-10 reveals the floor screw tweak and many more.