Update

MALDEN MILLS In our edition of Jan. 8, 1996, TIME reported on Methuen, Mass., where, just days before Christmas, the 90-year-old Malden textile mill burned to the ground, apparently taking 2,400 jobs with it. But in a gesture uncommon to the impersonal world of modern business, mill owner Aaron Feuerstein kept every employee, paying full wages until the mill could be restarted. He even made good on Christmas bonuses. Despite his heroics, retooling costs and the economic pinch caused by the fire have caught up with the company. Malden is shutting down a satellite plant in Bridgton, Maine, and moving 200 jobs to Lawrence, Mass. The Methuen plant will continue to operate with about 2,000 employees.

THE RIO A tiny device the size of a deck of cards, it plugs into your PC, and as TIME technology columnist Joshua Quittner wrote in our Sept. 21, 1998, issue, some fear it spells "the death of the recording industry." The device, called the Rio, can download and play near CD-quality digital music from free sites on the Internet. Some of these sites are illegal, as is the unauthorized downloading of copyrighted music. But catching violators is extremely difficult. Last week lawyers for the Recording Industry of America lost an important court case when a federal judge refused to issue an injunction against Diamond Multimedia, maker of the Rio. His ruling lets the Silicon Valley firm continue to manufacture and sell the $200 player. But the battle is far from over. The record industry promises an appeal.