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Mark Waldrep, the man behind the "only all-HD digital label," Aix Records, has now established an all-HD download site, www.itrax.com. While Music Giants and Linn offer HD downloads, iTrax calls itself "the only website to offer real HD in multiple mixing perspectives," since it offers consumers two-channel stereo, 5.1-channel "audience," and 5.1-channel "stage" perspectives in MP3, Dolby Digital, DTS, WMA pro, WMA Lossless, and PCM 96kHz/24-bit resolutions.

John Atkinson and I recently spent a few hours talking to cable manufacturer Tributaries&#039">http://www.tributariescable.com/">Tributaries' president and founder, Joe Perfito. Perfito had come to NYC to meet the press and introduce his company's newest cable families, the high-end Series 7 and the higher-end Series 9. "The Series 9 cables are the best cables we know how to make," Perfito told us. "The interconnects are hand-made of 20AWF solid OFHC signal conductor and a 1.25% silver-plated 46-strand 20AWG OFHC return conductor. We use an LDPE dielectric and an OFHC copper-braided shield and a double-sided copper foil secondary shield for 100% freedom from interference. The conductors are double-soldered to the solid brass connectors, then pressure welded—they will not let go of one another."

Olive">http://www.olive.us">Olive Media Products, manufacturers of audiophile-quality Olive music servers, has partnered with MusicGiantshttp://www.musicgiants.com">MusicGiants;, the leading site for CD-quality music downloads. Olive's well-received Opus line of digital players now allows users to download, store, manage, and play large collections of CD-quality music directly from MusicGiants without needing to buy or rip CDs, select track by track, or use a computer. (You can find John Atkinson's positive review of the Olive Symphony herehttp://www.stereophile.com/mediaservers/406olive/">here;.)

This last week has generated more mainstream coverage of the vinyl world than we've seen in, say, the last 20 years.

The invitation looked intriguing: "We are happy to welcome you to The Netherlands in September for the offical introduction of the Siltech Pantheon Loudspeaker." Siltechwww.siltechcables.com">Siltech; introducing a loudspeaker? I was well familiar with the Dutch company, celebrating its 25^th anniversary next year, as a cable manufacturer. Indeed, some of the first high-end cables I had found to sound better than what I had been used to were Siltechs, back in the mid-1980s. Paul Bolin had been impressed by his auditioning">http://www.stereophile.com/cables/1004siltech">auditioning of more recent G5 models in 2004. And Siltech's founder, Edwin van der Kley, is married to the irrepressible Gabi van der Kley, principal of Crystal Cable with whom I had had a rather intense breakfast meeting with during last May's Home">http://blog.stereophile.com/he2007">Home Entertainment 2007. (All conversations with Gabi are intense.) But loudspeakers?

When Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. and Goldman Sachs decided to call">http://stereophile.com/news/092407harman/">call off their projected">http://stereophile.com/news/043007harman/">projected $8 billion takeover of Harman International Industries, Inc., industry experts predicted the audio company would take the two financial firms to court, if not to gain the $225 million termination fee, to force them to abide by their material adverse effect statement and complete the transaction.

Jazz fans rejoice! Not only is Music">http://blog.stereophile.com/cedia2007/090707bluenote/">Music Matters releasing new 45rpm double LP reissues of classic Blue Note titles, but so is Analogue Productions.