While Apple's iTunes and RealNetworks Rhapsody are battling it out in the music download ring (see <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/news/032204itunes">related story</A>), and Microsoft is rumored to be eyeing a corner, Sony has now decided to join the fray with a new music service announced last week in Europe.
Some months back, a poll at the Naxos of America <A HREF="http://www.naxos.com">website</A> asked visitors about their preferences among high-resolution and multichannel formats. At that time, Naxos had been releasing DVD-As (and DVDs) in the US, but only released SACDs elsewhere.
One of the nicest things about communicating online is the potential for immediacy. One person can offer up a statement, another can respond within seconds, and voilà: instant town hall.
Anyone over 40 who's worked in a hi-fi or record store will remember the Pfanstiehl catalog, a pulpy thing that most shopkeepers chained to their counters, like a phone book. Pfanstiehl made replacement styli for virtually every record-playing device of the day, and their catalog contained page after page of tiny line drawings of nothing but phonograph needles, all lovingly rendered in three-quarter view. You couldn't browse it without being brought up short: My God, how many different needles <I>are</I> there? And how is it possible that a single company could tool up for so many products and still make a profit?
For better or for worse, appearances can make a profound first impression. Think of the bold, muscular curves of an Audi TT coupe, the planes and facets of a Lamborghini Murcielago, the sleek lines of a Gulfstream jet. In these vehicles, function and art are combined with smooth facility and perfect aesthetic balance.
Monoblock power amplifiers seem to be moving in and out of my listening room faster than green-onion salsa from Chi-Chi's. Over the past six months I've had the <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/amplificationreviews/774">Parasound Halo JC-1</A>, the Halcro dm68, the <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/amplificationreviews/1103pass">Pass XA-160</A>, the <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/amplificationreviews/104mf">Musical Fidelity kW</A>, and now these 300W (into 8 ohms), $4500-each beauties from Theta Digital. All of these amps sounded as different as they looked, which was no surprise; too bad the "measures the same, sounds the same" dogmatists remain open for business.
Reader Mark Gdovin is curious. How many of you have professionally worked in the field of audio as "retail salespersons
Starbucks is taking its signature compilation CDs to the next level—the personal one.
<A HREF="http://www.towerrecords.com">Tower Records</A> should be back in fighting form on Monday, March 15 when a Delaware bankruptcy court rules on the company's reorganization plans.
From the March 2004 issue, John Atkinson finally gets to listen to the <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/loudspeakerreviews/304sonus">Sonus Faber Cremona loudspeaker</A> and explains, "it took rather longer than I had expected to set the Cremonas up in my listening room. But, like everything worth experiencing, the wait was worth it."