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It's still too early in the game to guess what a profitable music download business might look like, but it's clear that it won't involve highly restricted access—or high prices.

Using personal computers to listen to music may be heresy in some audiophile circles, but the practice is definitely on the rise. Recognition of the fact has led at least one maker of computer motherboards to introduce a model with a vacuum-tube audio circuit.

There's no question that restricted-use or copy-protected CDs are finding their way onto retailer shelves and into unsuspecting consumer hands—often with frustrating">http://www.stereophile.com/news/11341/">frustrating results. What is in doubt in many consumers' minds is how to recognize a restricted-use disc before purchase.

The entertainment industry has been crying wolf about the impending death of its collective livelihood since the first recording device hit the market decades ago. In spite of those dire predictions, reel-to-reel tape decks, cassette recorders, and VCRs hardly dented sales, and may in fact have contributed to unprecedented world-wide growth.

Chip manufacturer ESS">http://www.esstech.com">ESS Technology is no stranger to audiophiles interested in new formats. It was responsible for one of the first "universal" SACD/DVD-Audio decoding">http://www.stereophile.com/news/11059/">decoding chips and more recently was the supplier of a special-purpose">http://www.stereophile.com/news/11296/">special-purpose chip for Linn's SACD "Silver Disk Engine" designs.

Companies that thrive do so by adapting to a changing market. Sony is revamping its manufacturing and marketing plans in an attempt to become both more efficient and more responsive to consumer needs.

Joe Abrams has an impressive audio resume. "I've been on the manufacturer's side of the desk since 1979," he says. That's when he started as national sales manager for Monster Cable. A few years later found Abrams as director of sales at Sumiko, and then in 1987 he started as VP of sales at Threshold. In 1991 Abrams joined cable start-up Tara Labs and quickly helped them establish a dealer network before moving on to MIT.