LATEST ADDITIONS

The <A HREF="http://www.eetimes.com/"><I>EE Times</I></A> is reporting that the DVD Forum is getting close to finalizing a specification that would allow audio signals to be available via digital outputs on DVD-Audio players. Audiophile frustration with the new DVD-A format has mounted in the months since its introduction, with lack of access to a high-resolution digital signal from players, which currently have analog-only outputs, and the possibility of watermarked discs.

More than a year after BMG Germany had to <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/news/10671/">recall</A&gt; a massive shipment of "copy-proof" CDs, an American record label is preparing to attempt a similar experiment. In April, Nashville independent label Music City Records will issue <I>Charley Pride: A Tribute to Jim Reeves</I>, copy protection included.

As Robert J. Reina writes, "I have a passion for great speaker designs at affordable prices, and with modern driver, crossover, and cabinet technologies making innovative strides, many serious high-end speaker designers are turning their attention to coming up with the next great budget speaker." At $649/pair, is the <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com//loudspeakerreviews/330/">PSB Image 4T loudspeaker</A> it? Reina divulges the results of his aural examination.

Cello, one of high-end audio's most prestigious names, is being revived by one of its former executives. Jim McCullough, who served as the brand's last vice president of international business development, has formed a new company, Matthew James LLC, which will make and market Cello electronics.

<B>RODNEY CROWELL: <I>The Houston Kid</I></B><BR>Sugar Hill SUG-CD-1065A (HDCD). 2001. Rodney Crowell, Peter Coleman, Steuart Smith, Jim Dineen, prods.; Hank Williams, eng. AAD? TT: 47:01<BR>Performance <B>*****</B><BR>Sonics <B>****</B>

As audiophiles, we generally deplore the restrictions that the music business is trying to impose on new formats and equipment, such as watermarking and restricting digital outputs. But does the recording industry have a leg to stand on with their suspicion that we all might be potential pirates?

The prognosis was looking dim for yet another Internet music business, but last week the <A HREF="http://www.iuma.com/">Internet Underground Music Archive</A> (IUMA), revealed that it has signed an agreement to be acquired by Vitaminic, a European digital platform for the promotion and distribution of music over the Internet. IUMA had recently run out of cash and says that the acquisition will allow it to relaunch all suspended services within the week.

After enduring <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/news/10942/">frustrating delays</A>, <A HREF="http://www.xmradio.com">XM Satellite Radio</A> announced the successful launch last week of its first satellite, which the company has named Rock. XM reports that lift-off occurred off the Sea Launch Odyssey Launch Platform in the open waters of the Pacific Ocean on the equator, and that the first signals from the satellite were captured by a ground station in Australia a little over an hour later, as planned.

As Shannon Dickson puts it, the <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com//loudspeakerreviews/328/">Audio Artistry Beethoven loudspeaker system</A> "is a four-piece, bi-amplified, dynamic dipole design which has been taken to the <I>n</I>th degree of refinement." After much time spent reveling in the speaker's sonic splendor, Dickson arrives at his aural conclusion.

Savvy music fans willing to ignore the built-in copying restrictions on consumer-targeted CD recorders have always had their computer-based CD and DVD recorders and hard drives to play with, especially when it comes to manipulating MP3 files. Maybe not for much longer. A new content-protection approach is attempting to tighten the digital noose around the necks of PC users who have spent the last few years virtually unencumbered when it comes to&mdash;as Apple so succinctly <A HREF="http://www.apple.com/hardware/ads/ripmixburn.html">puts it</A>&mdash;rip, mix, burn.