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The number of two-channel Super Audio Compact Discs seems to grow by the week. There are now several hundred titles to choose from—and hundreds on the way, with the recent endorsement of the format by major record labels. Even so, there are still very few SACDs that exploit the multichannel capabilities of Direct Stream Digital.

Citing increasing competition from stronger companies and online music ventures about to debut from major record labels, an investment group has taken the drastic step of calling for the sale of Liquid">http://www.liquidaudio.com">Liquid Audio.

In the wake of last week's disasters in New York, Washington, DC, and Pittsburgh, Audio">http://www.audioasylum.com">Audio Asylum and Audiogonhttp://www.audiogon.com">Audiogon; have banded together to co-sponsor a charity auction of audio equipment to benefit the NY Firefighters' Fund and other related charities.

For the last several months, the major record labels have been ramping up what some have viewed as a stealth assault on their customers by increasingly deploying technology that restricts the use of audio CDs (see previoushttp://www.stereophile.com/news/11113/">previous;). While an increasing number of music fans have been crying foul, one consumer has decided to fight back in court.

In his review of the Toshiba">http://www.stereophile.com//digitalsourcereviews/407/">Toshiba SD-9200 DVD-Audio player, Chip Stern asks the question "In a rollout of new technologies more or less driven by the expectations of the home-theater crowd, what's in it for us music-lovers?" Stern uncovers the answer and then some, while Kal Rubinson explores the player's surround-music performance.

Breaking news at the 2001 CEDIA Expo, held this past weekend in Indianapolis, IN, was that Harry Pearson, founder and editor of bimonthly high-end audio magazine The Absolute Sound, has apparently been moved to one side. According to TAS publisher Mark Fisher, with whom I spoke briefly Sunday morning on the Show floor, the day-to-day editing of the magazine will become the responsibility of erstwhile Stereophile consulting technical editor Robert Harley.

Forget the SACD/DVD-Audio format wars, a more interesting (and potentially more devastating to consumers) battle is brewing among companies racing to add copy protection technology and other restrictions to compact discs.