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As it has for the last 11 years, The">http://www.thecableco.com/">The Cable Company, along with many of its vendors, is dedicating August to help some of "the poorest people in the most ravaged regions of the world."

Stereophile started publishing its "Recording">http://www.stereophile.com/recordingofthemonth/">Recording of the Month" feature in its December 1992 issue, with the late Igor Kipnis's rave">http://www.stereophile.com/recordingofthemonth/1292rotm/">rave review of Keith Jarrett performing Shostakovich's 24 Preludes and Fugues.

In audio, there's brand loyalty and then there's McIntosh loyalty. Part of that, of course, is that the manufacturer's black glass face panels and glowing blue meters have become audio icons that generations of audiophiles have grown up lusting after, but part of it is undoubtedly because McIntosh is so very good at fostering a sense of community.

Back in the bad old pioneer days of high fidelity, the 1960s and early 1970s, amplifier manufacturers embarked on a specifications war, claiming ever lower percentages of total harmonic distortion. But, as J. Gordon Holt presciently pointed out in the 1960s, without reference to the spectrum of the distortion harmonics, the actual percentage was not in itself a reliable indicator of an amplifier's sound quality. And as those early low-THD models had distortion spectra that were heavily biased toward the sonically objectionable fifth, seventh, and ninth harmonics, and suffered from other related ills, they tended to sound quite nasty.

Hollywood Records, part of Walt Disney Co., announced that it will offer a new CD format it calls CDVU+ (CD view plus). In addition to traditional CD content, CDVU+ will offer lyrics, digital magazine articles, band photos, guitar lessons, and other features that will "build loyalty." Hollywood Records senior vice-president Ken Bunt said the company chose an enhanced CD format rather than a file-based format because "we really believe if you're going to give consumers what they want, we should do it in a way they're used to."

Things looked grim for Internet radio late last week. On July 11, the DC Circuit Court of Appeals declined to delay the increasehttp://stereophile.com/news/031907internet/">increase; in digital performance royalties the Copyright Royalty Board imposed last March. The new fees were scheduled to go into effect on July 15, retroactive to the beginning of 2006.

Tweeter Home Entertainment Group, Inc., whch declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy on June">http://stereophile.com/news/061807chapter11/">June 11, accepted a $38 million bid for a "going concern" acquisition from Schultze Asset Management, a firm specializing in "distressed positions."