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There appears to be nothing more important to the music business today than controlling the distribution and use of digital content on the web and in the home. Proprietary schemes to prevent or control the use of audio files have become hot commodities and valuable assets for many companies. Liquid">http://www.liquidaudio.com">Liquid Audio recently announced that the US Patent Office has awarded the company a patent (#6,219,634) for its watermark technique used for distributing secure digital music files.

In what is intended to have the biggest impact yet on the thriving "rip, mix, burn" lifestyle, Macrovisionhttp://www.macrovision.com">Macrovision; has revealed that several record labels have been secretly putting its copy protection system onto new CD releases since around March of this year (see previous">http://www.stereophile.com/news/10985/">previous report). The process, called SafeAudio, is a Macrovision registered trademark and is intended to prevent the copying of CDs, or tracks from CDs, onto CD-R discs and computer hard drives. The technology was developed jointly by Macrovision and TTR">http://www.ttrtech.com">TTR Technologies.

One of the most astute bits of folk wisdom is the old saying "If it ain't broke, don't fix it."

Several months back, Stereophile editor John Atkinson asked David Rich to investigate the technical merits of SACD. With Super">http://www.stereophile.com//features/374/">Super Audio CD: The Rich Report, DR discovers that there is both more and less than meets the ear to the new format, including why it is being promoted in the first place.

Music fans who use their computers to organize their CD or MP3 music libraries have found the CDDB music database, now owned and operated by Gracenotehttp://www.gracenote.com">Gracenote; (see previous">http://www.stereophile.com/news/11046/">previous story), to be an essential part of their audio world. If you use CDDB-enabled hardware or software, the artist, album title, genre, and track titles will automatically display when you put a CD or load an MP3 file into your computer or compliant player.

If you work in the consumer electronics industry and would like to see your personal CE hero rewarded, the Consumer">http://www.ce.org">Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) would like to hear from you. The CEA announced last week that it is seeking nominations from its members, the press and other industry professionals for the 2002 class of inductees into the Consumer Electronics Hall of Fame.

"Adapt or die" is the first law of economic Darwinism. It's a choice that many music retailers are beginning to face with the rising tide of alternative distribution channels. According to market research organization Jupiter">http://www.jupiter.com">Jupiter Research, online music services will account for approximately 9% of all CDs sold this year, a 50% increase from 2000. Retailers, once the music industry's only sales interface with the buying public, are looking at what might be an increasingly marginalized future. Those who wish to stay in the game may become "affiliates" rather than independent distributors.