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There is no denying that buying pre-owned high-end gear can easily provide the biggest bang for the audio buck. Many of us got our first glimpse of sonic nirvana after scoring some second-hand component at a fraction of its retail price. Or perhaps you've just bought a new product and need to unload that old classic hanging out in the closet. Stereophile wants to help.

Brian Damkroger's audio world may have been in a disorienting flux the last several months, but one thing remained a bastion of stability: the Simaudio">http://www.stereophile.com//digitalsourcereviews/343/">Simaudio Moon Eclipse CD player. Damkroger explains why in his complete report.

One of the most esteemed labels in the audiophile universe should soon be back in business. Online retailer Music">http://www.musicdirect.com">Music Direct has purchased remastering and re-release specialty company Mobile Fidelity, according to an http://pages.prodigy.net/amicus1/end_los.htm"> announcement made April 24.

One argument for the record industry's disappointing sales last year is a combination of high prices for official CD releases coupled with cheap prices for computer-based CD recorders and CD-R blanks. It doesn't look like retail CD prices will be coming down anytime soon, but luckily for the music business, CD-R prices are going up.

Jonathan Scull asks "What's it take to compete on the bleeding edge of digital?" Apparently more than what's offered by the "large international manufacturing and marketing concerns stalking the earth today." Will the Accuphase">http://www.stereophile.com//digitalsourcereviews/340/">Accuphase DP-100 Super Audio CD transport & DC-101 Digital Processor make the cut? Scull's incisive report reveals all.

Amid news that its watermark technology for DVD-Audio may have been compromisedhttp://www.stereophile.com/news/11026/">compromised;, Verancehttp://www.verance.com">Verance; nonetheless announced last week the launch of its "ConfirMedia" watermarking service. The company says that ConfirMedia will monitor and report the airplay of encoded commercials, music, and programs broadcast by television, cable and radio stations in the 100 top US markets and on the national feeds of major broadcast and cable television networks in the US.

Having previous experience working for the CIA or the KGB may be a bonus on the resume of any aspiring audio industry applicant, it seems. In an effort to stymie the illegal copying and distribution of digital song files, record companies and hardware manufacturers have turned to increasingly complicated tracking technologies such as MPEG-4 and watermarking. The most recent addition to the anti-pirate bag of tricks: "fingerprinting."