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Last week, www.stereophile.com posted an article concerning Pollara, Inc.'s Canadian Recording Industry Association–commissioned 144-page">http://www.stereophile.com/news/032006cria/">144-page report on the downloading habits of Canadian music consumers. We reported that the University of Ottawa's Dr. Michael Geist interpreted the Pollara data differentlyhttp://michaelgeist.ca/component/option,com_content/task,view/id,1168/I…; than the polling group did, in particular noting his conclusion that people who had downloaded music had legally purchased more music than their counterparts who had never done so.

There is a war of words—and numbers—being waged in the struggle over copyright infringement and the illegal copying of music. Downloading music is a boon to the music industry, claim some, because it leads to increased sales of CDs. Others present statistics that undeniably prove that downloading will be the death of the music business.

Federal judges have issued somewhat conflicting rulings in the ongoing legal battle over illegitimate file sharing. As the situation stands at the end of April, individuals may be held responsible for copyright violation, but the services they use in the process may not.

Is community radio at death's door? More than 1000 churches, schools and community organizations nationwide have applied for licenses to operate 10W-100W FM stations. Despite a strong grass-roots movement, and the support of Federal">http://www.fcc.gov/">Federal Communications Commission chairman William Kennard, the low-power radio (LPFM) movement is about to be buried by the combined weight of the National">http://www.nab.org/">National Association of Broadcasters, National">http://www.npr.org/">National Public Radio, and their many friends in the US Congress.

US lawmakers have honored their promise to address a languishing small-webcaster royalty bill that was put">http://www.stereophile.com/news/11468/">put on hold prior to the fall elections.

The slippery slope established by the Telecommunications Act of 1996 could soon get much slipperier. Three major media conglomerates have teamed up to pressure the Federal Communications Commission to drop the remaining restrictions on the ownership of broadcasting stations.

For the last several months, the major record labels have been ramping up what some have viewed as a stealth assault on their customers by increasingly deploying technology that restricts the use of audio CDs (see previoushttp://www.stereophile.com/news/11113/">previous;). While an increasing number of music fans have been crying foul, one consumer has decided to fight back in court.