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As it has for the last 10 years, The">http://www.fatwyre.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."

Audio professionals and "prosumers" with home studios have long sung the praises of NHT's compact powered monitor, the M-00 (affectionately called "the moo"); powered subwoofer, the S-00 (don't make us say it); and passive volume control, the PVC (a JA favorite). Until July 18, however, these products were only available at studio suppliers and professional audio sales centers. NHT, acceding to "growing demand and an evolving market," will now allow its specialty audio dealer network to offer the formerly Pro products to their clientele as part of NHT's PC Hi-Fi line.

In May, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) suedhttp://stereophile.com/news/052206xmtrials/">sued; XM Satellite Radio over the Pioneer">http://www.xm-radio-satellite.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=… Inno portable player, which has a 1GB recording capacity, but no way of porting the recordings outside the player.

Some days I feel like Stereophile's designated audio antichrist. After all, I wrote an automotive audio column for the magazine about 10 years back—a feature that prompted more than one reader to send the pages carrying my column back to Santa Fe as "not what I subscribed for"—and I reviewed the http://stereophile.com/mediaservers/934/ ">iPod. So, not really being a glutton for punishment, I wasn't wildly enthusiastic when Edelman account executive Stefani Gudis tendered an invitation to hear the Infiniti/Bose "Studio On Wheels" model G35 sedan. It wasn't that I didn't think that car audio could be a valid musical experience, I simply had been disappointed too many times by car manufacturers touting "audiophile" sound packages, which, upon examination, were probably more about preventing aftermarket add-ons by car audio installers. BTDT, as the kids text-message.

We have lost a great artist. Mezzo-soprano Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, 52, who had previously triumphed over breast cancer, died at her home in Santa Fe on July 3. While The New York Times obituary did not specify the cause of death, other reports suggest she died from cancer, leading to speculation that the claims of back trouble and gall bladder inflammation that led to a string of cancellations in the past few years were related to a recurrence of the disease.

In a gesture that mirrors a petitionhttp://www.eff.org/share/petition/">petition; the Electronic Freedom Foundation (EFF) is presenting to Congress, Flowerburger Records is circulating a petitionhttp://www.flowerburger.com/">petition; requesting that the British Parliament and the BPI, Britain's recording industry trade group, stop the lawsuits against music fans and develop constructive alternatives aimed at compensating artists.

We have just learned that Paul Nelson, an influential music writer and talent scout for Mercury Records, was found dead in his New York City apartment last week. The cause of death was not reported.