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The Music Online Competition Act (MOCA) has won the imprimatur of the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA), according to an announcement made August 8. The recently-introduced bipartisan">http://www.stereophile.com/news/11107/">bipartisan bill crafted by Congressmen Chris Cannon (R-Utah) and Rick Boucher (D-Virginia) intends to insure competition in the delivery of online music—and to preserve music lovers' rights to copy their own recordings for private use.

While Napster was thriving a few short months ago, the music business was noisily seething and quietly plotting. How could they put the digital audio genie back into the content-control bottle? Although Napster has since been gutted, the labels have identified the unprotected CD as the source of their woes, and now it's payback time.

Like the proverbial camel who took over the tent after getting just his nose in, it appears that once copy protection is given an inch, it will inevitably try to get in all the way. At least that's how it appears with an increasing variety of CD copy protection systems now currently being tested en masse by the major record labels. Latest to announce a new "evaluation agreement" is BMG Entertainment, which will use and evaluate SunnComm's MediaCloQ "digital content cloaking technology", first put to the test earlier in the year on a Charley Pride CD (see">http://www.stereophile.com/news/11004/">see previous).

Universal">http://www.umusic.com">Universal Music Group and Warner">http://www.wmg.com">Warner Music Group are more than friendly competitors, in the view of the Federal">http://www.ftc.gov">Federal Trade Commission. They are also partners in crime, according to charges filed against the two on July 31 in New York.

Although the deal was announcedhttp://www.stereophile.com/news/11038/">announced; by both companies only weeks ago, it appears that Audio">http://www.audioadvisor.com">Audio Advisor will in fact not be distributing Musical Fidelity products in the US after September 1. In AA's place, Musical Fidelity has chosen Kevro International as the exclusive US distributor for its complete line of electronic products. According to Kevro International spokesperson Kathy Ginn, "Musical Fidelity [has] chosen to market [its] products through independent specialists rather than [continue] their previous approach [of distributing the line] through mail order and the Internet. And, unfortunately, AA will no longer be a dealer."

News last">http://www.stereophile.com/news/11094/">last week about SafeAudio CD copy protection indicates that while fighting pirates, the major record labels are also attempting to seal off the ability of users to place their own music from CDs onto computers. If they succeed, the only alternative for consumers who want non-pirated music on their desktops will be to buy content directly from the labels themselves, or companies set up to legally supply digital audio.

If you haven't seen much in the mainstream press about the new satellite radio services from XM and Sirius, both poised to launch before the end of the year, you soon will. First out of the chute with the big media bucks, XM">http://www.xmradio.com">XM Satellite Radio unveiled last week its national advertising campaign called "Radio to the Power of X."