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The Rounder">http://www.rounder.com/">Rounder Records Group, one of the largest independent record labels in the US, has signed on with Liquid">http://www.liquidaudio.com/">Liquid Audio for digital music distribution on the Internet. As of April 28, Rounder will offer a substantial portion of its catalog for sale by digital download.

Upstart digital audio format MP3 received some heavy-duty validation with the announcement on Wednesday, April 27 by Thomson Multimedia SA that it has made a 20% investment in MusicMatch">http://www.musicmatch.com/">MusicMatch Inc., a maker of MP3 player and management software. "Jukebox," as the software is known, is used to play, encode, and manage MP3 files. Thomson makes RCA, ProScan, and Thomson brand electronics.

Last week, CDDBhttp://www.cddb.com">CDDB; announced a newly designed, more user-friendly website for its large database of audio CD information. The database resource now provides free information on more than 360,000 CDs, which the company describes as the world's largest online CD music database. There are over 40,000 entries in the classical CD database alone, with rock logging three times as many entries at 126,000. The database gains about 500 new entries every day. Users can search by artist, album, or song title, and then cross-reference titles to other artists or discs.

In the latest article to appear in the Archives, Robert Harley comes right out and asks, "How many of you actually read the 'Measurements' sections of Stereophile's equipment reports and understand what's being measured, and why? I suspect that many readers skip over the technical assessment of the reviewed product and make a dash for the 'Conclusion.' "

Last Month, music labels, distributors, and retailers met in Las Vegas for the 41st annual National">http://www.narm.com">National Association of Recording Merchandisers convention to wrestle with several new issues wrought by the digital age. NARM Chairperson Rachelle Friedman set the tone for the event when she stated in the keynote address that "for the music industry, the 21st century and the impact of the Internet have already thrust themselves upon us."

Toronto-based Lenbrook Group announced earlier this month that it had acquired NAD Electronics from AudioNord International, a Scandinavian organization that has owned the brand for most of this decade. The deal is expected to close next week, on May 3. Lenbrook will take over NAD's worldwide marketing and distributorship, but AudioNord will continue to market the brand in Holland, Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, and Scandinavia. Other joint marketing ventures will follow, according to Lenbrook's public relations agent.

We posted an updatehttp://www.stereophile.com/news/10415/">update; on Peter Belt and his activities earlier in the month, but the saga began many moons ago. If you're curious about where it all began, or just need to know more, then J. Gordon Holt's "L'Affaire">http://www.stereophile.com//asweseeit/110/">L'Affaire Belt" is for you. Stranger than fiction? Guaranteed.