• More optimism: Sony BMG Chief Executive Officer Rolf Schmidt-Holtz to Der Spiegel magazine: "I am confident that the approval will stand even after a new examination." (Reuters)

• Hits predicts NOW 22 will remain atop the album chart next week after selling around 225,000, which isn't all that bad of a second-week fade. Two will debut in the Top 10, although with modest sales in the 50,000 to 60,000 range: Rodney Atkins and Los Lonely Boys. Dixie Chicks, Gnarls Barkley and Nelly Furtado are holding strong. (Hits Rumor Mill)

• Eliot Spitzer returned a few campaign contributions related to companies his office has dealth with. One was from CBS Corp, which is currently under investigation for payola practices. Another contribution was from the wife of an EMI board member and chief executive of EMI Music Publishing. (Wall Street Journal)

• Robert Hillburn recounts meeting some of music's biggest names over his decades as a music writer. (LA TImes)