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Audiophiles cringe at the idea of downloading blurry, compressed representations of once-detailed recordings (even CD seems high-rez these days). But that hasn't stopped average music fans from trying online music services.

One look at Gig Harbor Audio's events for September makes you stop and wonder. This month, the store, located near the water in the picturesque town of Gig Harbor, WA less than an hour from Seattle, began the month with a live concert by homegrown band, Rokkerbox, which benefitted for the local food bank. Next on the schedule are a three-hour "Social Media Basics" workshop with Tiffany Burke (September 20), a weekly hour-long "Disc After Dark" all-ages listening party (September 22), and a PTSD Healing Summit (September 25). With not a single presentation by an industry heavyweight, and lots of events aimed at the wider community, this is not your typical schedule for a high-end emporium.

After a May 10 http://stereophile.com/news/10744/"> announcement from the Federal Trade Commission that it had negotiated a settlement with the music industry's "Big Five" over a controversial pricing policy, enterprising private attorneys wasted little time initiating class-action lawsuits (1http://www.stereophile.com/news/10750/">1;, 2http://www.stereophile.com/news/10803/">2;) against them. By early August, some reports placed the number of suits nationwide at more than 100.

Do good things come in small packages? Audio technology over this past half century offers pretty good evidence that they do. Fifty years ago, the long-playing record amazed people with a half-hour of music per side, compared to the 78's few minutes. Thirty years ago, the cassette tape replaced bulky open reels, ushering in a new era of recording capability—and portability—for millions of people. Twenty years ago, the CD began to push the LP out of the way because it packed a little more music into a much smaller and more durable package. Personal radios have long been hugely popular, and portable audio players are consistently among the industry's best-selling products.

In an era when music as instant entertainment enjoys increasing dominance over music as art, cellular phones have emerged as the latest">http://www.stereophile.com/news/101005upod/">latest purveyor of music on demand. Issues of sound quality mean little when the goal is to accumulate more and more files at an ever-accelerating pace and have ever easier access to those files.

To date, record label attempts at adding copy-control systems to CDs to restrict their use have been less than totally succesful. We've had Sony discs that get">http://www.stereophile.com/news/11341/">get stuck in computers, discs that don't">http://www.stereophile.com/news/11261/">don't reliably play in all CD players, trademark">http://www.stereophile.com/news/11247/">trademark violations, and CDs that generate lawsuitshttp://www.stereophile.com/news/11134/">lawsuits; and consumer frustration from not being able to create a "fair-use" personal copy of a disc to throw in the car.

Take a break from the heat and dive in to some fine sounds. The Las Vegas Audio Club is delighted to announce that on Saturday July 19, 2–5pm, Philip O'Hanlon from On A Higher Note will present the Luxman DA-06 DAC, PD-171 turntable (both reviewed by Stereophile's Art Dudley) and the L-590aX integrated amplifier driving the Vivid B1 loudspeakers, reviewed by John Atkinson.