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There are only a few short days left, but once again, audiophiles can help themselves and others at the same time by participating in The Cable Company's sixth annual "Summer Against Hunger" campaign. The">http://www.fatwyre.com">The Cable Company (and www.usedcable.comhttp://www.usedcable.com">www.usedcable.com;), along with several manufacturers and audiophile publications, have set up a program by which they offer to donate up to 10% of August sales to CARE and the International Rescue Committee, these contributions to be used to assist the worldwide disaster relief efforts of those humanitarian organizations.

When does cooperation become collusion? When does collusion become anti-competitive? Investigators at the US Justice Department have begun asking such questions in regard to plans by major music labels to make their wares available on the Internet.

Last week, InterTrust">http://www.InterTrust.com/">InterTrust Technologies, which creates Digital Rights Management (DRM) technology, and format developer DataPlayhttp://www.dataplay.com">DataPlay; announced a partnership intended to create a portable media distribution platform for protected content such as music. Universal Music Group, EMI Recorded Music, and BMG Entertainment have all announced that they are planning to release prerecorded music on the resultant DataPlay digital format for use in a variety of consumer electronic devices.