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More than a year after BMG Germany had to recallhttp://www.stereophile.com/news/10671/">recall; 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 Charley Pride: A Tribute to Jim Reeves, copy protection included.

The prognosis was looking dim for yet another Internet music business, but last week the Internet">http://www.iuma.com/">Internet Underground Music Archive (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.

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—as Apple so succinctly puts">http://www.apple.com/hardware/ads/ripmixburn.html">puts it—rip, mix, burn.