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Classical music in general, and audiophile label Telarc in particular, scored big in this year's annual Outmusic Awards. Pulitzer Prize-winning composer David Del Tredici, whose music has recently found an ardent champion in conductor Robert Spano, won Outstanding New Recording: Instrumental for the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra's Telarc recording of Paul Revere's Ride. Telarc veteran and Grammy Award-winning producer Thomas C. Moore, who assisted in the recording, received the Outstanding Producer award. In addition, soprano Melissa Fogarty received Outstanding New Recording: Debut Female for Handel: Scorned & Betrayed (Albany Records).

On Monday, May 22, federal judge Naomi Reice Buchwald granted final approval to the settlement of the class action suit brought against Sony BMG for embedding intrusive and crippling digital rights management (DRM) software into its CDs. Not only did the software load secretly onto users' computers, it opened them to malware invasions, in addition to reportedly sending Sony information about consumers' computers.

Laser turntable launch: Despite its having been available on a limited basis for several years (and having been written about in magazines like Stereophile since 1988), the ELP Corporation's laser">http://www.elpj.com/main.html">laser turntable was officially introduced into the North American market on May 18.