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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.

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.

Contrary to rumors circulating on the Internet, audiophile recording label Delos">http://www.delosmus.com/">Delos International is not abandoning the DVD-Audio format. A quick call to the Hollywood, CA–based company cleared up some confusion created when a few people noticed that "DVD-A" doesn't appear anywhere on the Delos homepage.

One of the dirty little secrets of the recording business is that some of its most precious assets are slowly self-destructing. In one example, a popular mastering tape supplied by Ampex to recording studios during the '70s and early '80s has been found to prematurely shed its oxide coating at an alarming rate due to poor quality control of the binding agents that hold the magnetic particles to the Mylar.

A few weeks ago, we ran an itemhttp://www.stereophile.com/news/10957/">item; concerning drummer Billy Higgins' declining health and rapidly growing medical expenses. Apparently, his fans have come through generously, because we just received the following:

Who says classical music is having trouble finding a contemporary audience? According to the latest Arbitronhttp://www.arbitron.com/">Arbitron; webcast ratings, for December, 2000, classical music and internet-only webcaster Beethoven.comhttp://www.beethoven.com">Beethoven.com; ranked number one with the most aggregate tuning hours (ATH) for the month. ATH describes the sum total of all hours that listeners tune to a given channel.