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As Robert J. Reina writes, "I have a passion for great speaker designs at affordable prices, and with modern driver, crossover, and cabinet technologies making innovative strides, many serious high-end speaker designers are turning their attention to coming up with the next great budget speaker." At $649/pair, is the PSB">http://www.stereophile.com//loudspeakerreviews/330/">PSB Image 4T loudspeaker it? Reina divulges the results of his aural examination.

Cello, one of high-end audio's most prestigious names, is being revived by one of its former executives. Jim McCullough, who served as the brand's last vice president of international business development, has formed a new company, Matthew James LLC, which will make and market Cello electronics.

The prognosis was looking dim for yet another Internet music business, but last week the Internet">http://www.iuma.com/">Internet Underground Music Archive (IUMA), revealed that it has signed an agreement to be acquired by Vitaminic, a European digital platform for the promotion and distribution of music over the Internet. IUMA had recently run out of cash and says that the acquisition will allow it to relaunch all suspended services within the week.

As Shannon Dickson puts it, the Audio">http://www.stereophile.com//loudspeakerreviews/328/">Audio Artistry Beethoven loudspeaker system "is a four-piece, bi-amplified, dynamic dipole design which has been taken to the nth 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—as Apple so succinctly puts">http://www.apple.com/hardware/ads/ripmixburn.html">puts it—rip, mix, burn.

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

Last week, the US Secret Service reported that, assisted by the Recording Industry Association of America's (RIAA) New York Anti-Piracy Unit, it had executed two search and seizure warrants in Queens and Manhattan, resulting in what the agency called "the break-up of a massive counterfeit music operation." The Secret Service reported that approximately 20,000 recorded CD-Rs and 1200 masters were seized from the Queens and Manhattan locations.