Love it or loathe it, Internet music is here to stay.

A soon-to-be-introduced bill in the US House of Representatives could severely alter the legality of behavior so commonplace that most Americans take it for granted.

John Atkinson has found himself swept away by the expensive speakers from Wilson Audio Specialties, so he set forth to put the company's new, modestly-priced <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com//loudspeakerreviews/619/">Sophia loudspeaker</A> to the test. JA writes, "The Sophia is all new, from its handcrafted enclosure to its custom-built drive-units."

Historically, radio stations have only partially cooperated with record label attempts to control when and where an important new record is first aired. It's not unusual for a new album or single to be "embargoed" until a specific date by the labels, with stations often competing with each other to find ways to get around this restriction and be first to air a hot new song.

As some readers may suspect, more music is heard in the automobile than in the home. Taking a clue from this trend, many high-end audio companies are finding their way into your car, and factory installed systems are getting better and better. Examples include the Mark Levinson audio system found in cars from Lexus, the debut of Lexicon's L7 surround system in a BMW at the 2002 CES, Linn's <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/news/11285/">partnership with Aston Martin</A>, Harman's partnership with Mercedes Benz, and the Dynaudio/Dolby Surround systems found in several of Volvo's cars.

Although I was trying to earn a living playing in rock bands in the early 1970s, I occasionally used to drag my Fender bass over to a school canteen in the next town for an after-hours session with what used to be called a "rehearsal band." (I have no idea what the derivation of that name is, except that, with the exception of a couple of veterans of the Ted Heath Orchestra, we were certainly in need of all the rehearsal we could get.) I would set up my Marshall stack the other side of the drummer from the pianist and sit behind a set of trumpet players, a brace of trombonists, and a scrum of players of the common saxophone flavors&mdash;a couple of altos, three or four tenors, and a baritone wielded by a gentleman with the magnificent moniker of Albert Bags. We played Glenn Miller and Woody Herman charts, and, on one memorable night, a Stan Kenton arrangement. Our technical chops didn't match our musical ambitions, but the feeling that welled up inside us when we all reached the final measure at the same time couldn't be beat.

Of the small number of times I have been totally swept away by listening to recorded music, a significant proportion have involved loudspeakers from Wilson Audio Specialties. It was my experience of their X-1/Grand SLAMM in the listening rooms of reviewer Martin Colloms, then-retailer Peter McGrath, designer Dan D'Agostino of Krell, and manufacturer Madrigal Audio Labs, that led me to name it my "Editor's Choice" for 1995 and join my vote with those of the <I>Stereophile</I> scribes to make it the magazine's "Loudspeaker of the Year." I wrote in <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com//asweseeit/470/">my December 2001 "As We See It"</A> about how a cross-country road trip had begun with a listen to the <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com//features/465/">Cantus CD</A> on the Wilson WAMMs in <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com//interviews/478/">their designer's</A> Utah listening room. And, as I wrote in <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com//asweseeit/557/">my April column</A>, auditioning Peter McGrath's 24-bit <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com//digitalsourcereviews/461/">Nagra-D</A&gt; master tapes on Wilson MAXXes in the Halcro room was, for me, the highlight of the 2002 CES.

Of the small number of times I have been totally swept away by listening to recorded music, a significant proportion have involved loudspeakers from Wilson Audio Specialties. It was my experience of their X-1/Grand SLAMM in the listening rooms of reviewer Martin Colloms, then-retailer Peter McGrath, designer Dan D'Agostino of Krell, and manufacturer Madrigal Audio Labs, that led me to name it my "Editor's Choice" for 1995 and join my vote with those of the <I>Stereophile</I> scribes to make it the magazine's "Loudspeaker of the Year." I wrote in <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com//asweseeit/470/">my December 2001 "As We See It"</A> about how a cross-country road trip had begun with a listen to the <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com//features/465/">Cantus CD</A> on the Wilson WAMMs in <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com//interviews/478/">their designer's</A> Utah listening room. And, as I wrote in <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com//asweseeit/557/">my April column</A>, auditioning Peter McGrath's 24-bit <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com//digitalsourcereviews/461/">Nagra-D</A&gt; master tapes on Wilson MAXXes in the Halcro room was, for me, the highlight of the 2002 CES.

Of the small number of times I have been totally swept away by listening to recorded music, a significant proportion have involved loudspeakers from Wilson Audio Specialties. It was my experience of their X-1/Grand SLAMM in the listening rooms of reviewer Martin Colloms, then-retailer Peter McGrath, designer Dan D'Agostino of Krell, and manufacturer Madrigal Audio Labs, that led me to name it my "Editor's Choice" for 1995 and join my vote with those of the <I>Stereophile</I> scribes to make it the magazine's "Loudspeaker of the Year." I wrote in <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com//asweseeit/470/">my December 2001 "As We See It"</A> about how a cross-country road trip had begun with a listen to the <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com//features/465/">Cantus CD</A> on the Wilson WAMMs in <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com//interviews/478/">their designer's</A> Utah listening room. And, as I wrote in <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com//asweseeit/557/">my April column</A>, auditioning Peter McGrath's 24-bit <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com//digitalsourcereviews/461/">Nagra-D</A&gt; master tapes on Wilson MAXXes in the Halcro room was, for me, the highlight of the 2002 CES.

Of the small number of times I have been totally swept away by listening to recorded music, a significant proportion have involved loudspeakers from Wilson Audio Specialties. It was my experience of their X-1/Grand SLAMM in the listening rooms of reviewer Martin Colloms, then-retailer Peter McGrath, designer Dan D'Agostino of Krell, and manufacturer Madrigal Audio Labs, that led me to name it my "Editor's Choice" for 1995 and join my vote with those of the <I>Stereophile</I> scribes to make it the magazine's "Loudspeaker of the Year." I wrote in <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com//asweseeit/470/">my December 2001 "As We See It"</A> about how a cross-country road trip had begun with a listen to the <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com//features/465/">Cantus CD</A> on the Wilson WAMMs in <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com//interviews/478/">their designer's</A> Utah listening room. And, as I wrote in <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com//asweseeit/557/">my April column</A>, auditioning Peter McGrath's 24-bit <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com//digitalsourcereviews/461/">Nagra-D</A&gt; master tapes on Wilson MAXXes in the Halcro room was, for me, the highlight of the 2002 CES.