Audio Recordings

Lawyers for former Orange County Sheriff Michael S. Carona made one of the most pivotal arguments in his corruption case Friday, asking a judge to prohibit jurors from hearing secret recordings in which Carona reportedly discussed hiding evidence that he illegally received cash and gifts. Carona's lawyers said the recordings should be excluded because federal law prohibits prosecutors from contacting a target who has an attorney, even through a third party.

Apple Inc. has surpassed Wal-Mart to become America's No. 1 music store, the first time that a seller of digital downloads has ever beaten the big CD retailers. Apple sold more albums in January and February than any other U.S. retailer, market research firm NPD Group said Thursday, underscoring how the music industry is on the front edge of a digital media shift that is upending businesses as diverse as bookstores and video game makers. U.S.

Mike Andrews, the producer of Inara George's new album, "An Invitation," calls it "the father-and-daughter record she never got to make." That might sound strange to students of Los Angeles rock history, who know that the singer's father, Lowell George, the eccentric and brilliant leader of the rock band Little Feat, died in 1979 of a heart attack at age 32.

Attorneys for former Orange County Sheriff Michael S. Carona asked a judge Friday to instruct jurors in his upcoming corruption trial that federal prosecutors violated state ethical guidelines when they instructed a former assistant sheriff to secretly record conversations with Carona last year. U.S. District Judge Andrew J. Guilford has already denied a defense request to exclude the recordings as evidence in Carona's trial, now scheduled to begin Aug. 26.

For Tom Gabel, the singer and guitarist of the Gainesville, Fla., punk band Against Me!, voicing dissent is less a means of changing the political tide than trying to find his own place in it. His band's 2007 LP, "New Wave," was a pop-savvy punch in the eye to not only America's foreign misadventures but also to the efficacy of protest music and the cynicism of both lovers and the music business. However, Gabel's new solo record, "Heart Burns," due out Tuesday, saves its sharpest knives for Sen.

A day after hauling in seven Grammy nominations, Coldplay should've been celebrating. Instead, band members were served with a copyright infringement lawsuit last week that claims they ripped off guitarist Joe Satriani to write their hit "Viva La Vida."

The downfall of Soviet Communism took 70 years, but "Chinese Democracy" appears to be in jeopardy after just two weeks. The Guns N' Roses album that was 17 years in the making climbed only as high as No. 3 when it debuted on the national sales chart. It has tumbled to No. 18 in its second week of release. That's a disturbing sign for the most expensive to produce album ever in rock, the cost once estimated at $13 million.

To demonstrate his working relationship with Brian Eno, David Byrne plugs an iPod into his computer. From speakers comes the gentle strumming of an acoustic guitar, the chords occasionally changing. Eno had sent him the recording to see if Byrne could build a song around it. His old friend did, imagining a melody and singing gibberish to capture it. He replaced his wordless noise with lyrics, giving birth to the optimistic "My Big Nurse" on the duo's new disc.

It was another dour year for the music business in a lot of ways, but don't tell that to the Rolling Stones. By extending the group's "A Bigger Bang" tour through much of 2006, the indefatigable band has topped Calendar's 10th annual Ultimate Top 10, which combines album sales with revenue generated by pop acts at the concert box office. It's the Stones' third time leading this poll, raking in a bit more than $150 million last year, most of it from concert ticket sales.

The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power has been accused in a lawsuit of illegally recording phone calls without consent, which, if proved, could cost the agency thousands of dollars. The class-action suit, filed Jan. 10 on behalf of Lucille Estes and uncounted other callers, contends that the agency violated California privacy law, which prohibits the recording of telephone calls without the consent of both parties. On Aug.