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Last week, www.stereophile.com posted an article concerning Pollara, Inc.'s Canadian Recording Industry Association–commissioned 144-page">http://www.stereophile.com/news/032006cria/">144-page report on the downloading habits of Canadian music consumers. We reported that the University of Ottawa's Dr. Michael Geist interpreted the Pollara data differentlyhttp://michaelgeist.ca/component/option,com_content/task,view/id,1168/I…; than the polling group did, in particular noting his conclusion that people who had downloaded music had legally purchased more music than their counterparts who had never done so.

Meet the new boss: Harman Specialty Group, the division of Harman Consumer Group responsible for the Mark Levinson, Revel, and Lexicon brands, has a new president. John Batliner is a 12-year veteran of the company, and, most recently, executive vice-president of HSG. Wayne Morris, current president of the company, will remain active until the end of April.

The Consumer Electronics Association (CEA), the producer of the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES), has finally confirmed the rumors that have been circulating for many weeks: The industry sector that CEA terms "high-performance audio" will move from its customary venue at the Alexis Villas (originally the Alexis Park) to the Venetian Hotel in 2007. In addition, "high-performance audio" and "high-performance home theater" will now be represented under the same umbrella.

Stereophile's senior contributing editor, Michael Fremer, and the magazine's editor at large, Art Dudley, are both giving presentations this spring at Cornell University in Ithaca, NY. Michael appears on Tuesday, March 28, followed two weeks later, on April 11, by Art Dudley.

The Canadian Recording Industry Association (CRIA) commissioned a new 144-page report of radio and consumer survey results, based on data collected between February 17 and 22 by Pollara, Inc. in 1229 telephone interviews with respondents above the age of 13. The purpose of the study was to collect data that the CRIA could submit to the Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunication Commission's (CTRC) Commercial">http://www.crtc.gc.ca/archive/ENG/Hearings/2006/n2006-1.htm">Commercial Radio Review. (For those interested in reading all 144 pages, click herehttp://support.crtc.gc.ca/applicant/docs.aspx?pn_ph_no=2006-1&call_id=2…; and download "Appendix A.")

After learning from John Sunier, publisher of Audiophile Audition, that Naxos, the largest classical label in the world, was expected to cease producing SACDs and DVD-As, I checked with their national publicist, Mark A. Berry. He in turn sought confirmation from Naxos' founder and chairman, Klaus Heymann.

The Minnesota Orchestra has become one of the first symphony orchestras in the US to archive selected broadcasts for online streamed listening on demand. Through an arrangement with Minnesota Public Radio (MPR), which has broadcast virtually every Minnesota Orchestra concert since 1974, the performances are now available for up to a year's time at www.mpr.org/minnesotaorchestrahttp://www.mpr.org/minnesotaorchestra">www.mpr.org/minnesotaorchestra;.