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On March 2, the Copyright Royalty Board (CRB) published a "Determination">http://www.loc.gov/crb/proceedings/2005-1/rates-terms2005-1.pdf">"Deter… of Rates and Terms," which announced an artist and recording company royalty fee structure for Internet radio based upon a "per song" structure. As it so happens, that was the model proposed by SoundExchangehttp://www.soundexchange.com/">SoundExchange;, a digital fee collection agency founded by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).

Wireworld: Wireworld has "completely redesigned" its Series 5² (pronounced "five squared") audio cables. Chief engineer David Salz says they deliver the "highest fidelity the company has ever offered."

(This article has been edited to reflect factual changes and comments from our learned colleague, Dr. Kalman Rubinson, Associate Professor at NYU's Department of Physiology and Neuroscience, who is careful to point out that he is commenting, not on the research, which he has not read, but only Heimburg's and Jackson's criticisms of current understanding and terminology—areas with which he has more than a passing acquaintance.)

Oooohh! Aaaahh! Coochy-coo! are not the usual spontaneous reactions from hard-boiled audio journalists to the unveiling of a hi-fi component. Nor is the Silverstone Circuit, the self-proclaimed Home of British Motor Racing, the usual venue for such a launch. But the news that UK audio manufacturer Meridianhttp://www.meridian.co.uk">Meridian; and Ferrari were cuddling up together on a joint project was enough to drag yours truly halfway across the country to deep Northamptonshire on a miserably wet February morning.

Audiophiles of a certain age may very well have first tasted high-end sound by way of Linn's 1972 Sondek">http://www.stereophile.com/turntables/1103linn/">Sondek LP12 turntable and/or Naim's 1982 Nait">http://www.stereophile.com/integratedamps/660/">Nait integrated amplifier. There aren't many audio manufacturers that have managed to keep components in production for 25 years (35 for the Linn), but the two venerable British designs have been continuously upgraded over their lives, keeping them competitive.

The Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, which last June became one of the first orchestras in the US to launch its">http://www.stereophile.com/news/101005milwaukee">its own e-label, has now become the first orchestra to offer download-only">http://www.milwaukeesymphony.org/symphonystore/othermerchandise.asp">do… binaural recordings. The binaural process, whose benefits are most apparent to those who listen through headphones, is based on the concept that the best way to reproduce the concert experience is to make sure that the recorded sounds that go into the listener's ears are as close as possible to what would be heard during an actual concert.

It's funny how things sometimes have to hit you in the head before you actually notice them. When Jon Iverson and I were cruising CES 2007 in January, we were stopped in our tracks by Sooloos's">http://blog.stereophile.com/ces2007/107soolooscdslot/">Sooloos's media server technology. Sooloos got the whole no-compromise audiophile approach, but what really knocked us out was how thoroughly it utilized the metadata from AMG (All Media Guide): Feed the the Sooloos server a disc and it would access AMG's database and collect artist name, album title, track names, cover art, genre, mood, side-man information, and even "associated concepts."