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Canada has targeted your iPod and hard drive. On March 7, CBC Records, the record label of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, announced a deal with the Independent Online Distribution Alliance (IODAhttp://www.iodalliance.com">IODA;) that will make CBC's entire catalog of 400 active and archival classical, jazz, world, and rock titles available for download. The announcement comes just six weeks after major independent label and distributor Harmonia Mundi declared that it would follow">http://www.stereophile.com/news/012907harm/">follow the same route.

We were surprised to readhttp://www.boston.com/news/globe/living/articles/2007/03/23/i_heard_it_…; in the March 23 Boston Globe that CBS Corp. had re-launched the CBS">http://www.cbsrecords.com/">CBS Records label. Our memory isn't what it once was, but hadn't we read that same story last December?

On a recent tour of Manhattan, Aperion Audio's Win Jeanfreau and Lorraine Janeway took some time to lunch with Stereophile's Stephen Mejias, Robert J. Reina, and me. Reina had just reviewed the $750/pair Aperion Intimus 533-T loudspeakers in the April Stereophile, so we assumed that would be the main topic of conversation. As far as Jeanfreau and Janeway were concerned, however, that was ancient history. They were excited about more recent developments and future plans.

On March 2, the Copyright Royalty Board (CRB) published a "Determination">http://www.loc.gov/crb/proceedings/2005-1/rates-terms2005-1.pdf">"Deter… of Rates and Terms," which announced an artist and recording company royalty fee structure for Internet radio based upon a "per song" structure. As it so happens, that was the model proposed by SoundExchangehttp://www.soundexchange.com/">SoundExchange;, a digital fee collection agency founded by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).

Over the last several weeks, one newspaper after another has made note of Nielsen Soundscan's 2006 point-of-purchase data, which showed classical record sales up 22.5%, making it the "fastest growing" category for the year. Hip-hop was down (-20.7%), R&B was down (-18.4%), alternative was down (-9.2%), jazz was down (-8.3%)—soundtracks were up (+19%), but everybody dismissed that, attributing it to the dominance of a single title, High School Musical.

Wireworld: Wireworld has "completely redesigned" its Series 5² (pronounced "five squared") audio cables. Chief engineer David Salz says they deliver the "highest fidelity the company has ever offered."

Marquis">http://www.marquisclassics.com">Marquis Classics, a Toronto-based CD label specializing in classical, jazz, world, and crossover recordings, recently issued its second batch of "Orion">http://www.marquisclassics.com/orion.html">Orion Master Recordings." Drawn from the large classical catalog of the defunct Orion LP label, the CDs include prized rare recordings by Robert Silverman, Steven Staryk, Joel Krosnick, Leonid Kogan, and other fine artists.