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An audio system even Nero could love: Pyrotechnical effects have apparently gotten slightly out of control with Philips Consumer Electronics MX920 speaker systems, 25,500 of which have been recalled due to fire hazards from overheating voice coils. Four such incidents have been reported since the MX920 went on sale in June 1997. No one has been injured, and property damage has been limited to one scorched rug.

In a recent bake-off, online retailer CDnowhttp://www.cdnow.com">CDnow; was named top music banana by the New York consulting firm eMarketerhttp://www.emarketer.com/">eMarketer;. Although placing further down the list based on price alone, CDnow gained the highest overall score in an averaging of the rankings of six criteria. Rated on a scale of 1 to 5, these were: Selection, Price, Service, Usability, Presentation, and Features.

DVD-Audio has been getting a lot of press and comments from consumers lately—as in "Where is it?" As we reported back in August, the first players from Panasonichttp://www.panasonic.com">Panasonic; were slated to appear last month (see previous">http://www.stereophile.com/news/10509/">previous story). But, as with all things worth waiting for, better late than never.

Up from the deep: Torrance, CA-based Wherehouse">http://wherehouse.com/">Wherehouse Entertainment announced last week that it will purchase Blockbuster">http://www.blockbuster.com/music">Blockbuster Music from Viacom Inc. for $115 million. The merged operation will have 598 stores throughout North America, second only to Minnesota-based Musicland. The deal comes at the end of a prolonged slump for the music industry, one that was particularly hard for Blockbuster.

Retailing can be a rough ride even in the best of times. In the current climate, it’s especially hard for those trying to make a go of it with recorded music.

The buzz about digital audio downloads from the Internet would lead one to think that the only way we'll be buying music in the not-too-distant future is through the Web. But the reality this past holiday season looks quite different. Reuters is running stories saying that there was "No Santa for the Internet Music Industry," and record companies attempting to get online are having a tough time (see related">http://www.stereophile.com/news/10648/">related item). MP3 for Dummies author Andy Rathbone states bluntly: "It [the digital music business] hasn't taken off as much as analysts expected," and EMI Records' Jay Alan Samit laments, "this year, over a billion songs were downloaded. None of our artists got paid."

We reported in 2005 on the Recording Industry Association of America's (RIAA) lawsuit">http://www.stereophile.com/news/082205riaa/">lawsuit against Patricia Santangelo and her suit in response to the trade group's allegations that she had participated in peer-to-peer file sharing. The record companies dropped their legal actions against Ms. Santangelo in December 2006, instead deciding to charge two of her children, Robert (16) and Michelle (20), with downloading songs from Kazaa.