LATEST ADDITIONS

The Richard Gray's Power Company 400S arrived on the audiophile scene last year with a bang. Weighing in at a hefty 20 lbs and at $700 a pop, this four-outlet power conditioner, according to the paperwork, "effectively 'positions' audio, video, and home theater equipment 'electronically closer' to your utility company transformer, without introducing any type of series electronic 'traps' or capacitors into the circuit, which we feel degrade the performance of certain equipment, and severely limit the amount of current they can handle."

This week: more likes and dislikes. Tell us the name of the worst pop song of all time.

Sure, we review a lot of big-bucks equipment in <I>Stereophile</I>, but readers constantly remind us to try the cheaper stuff as well. John Atkinson does exactly that in his review of the <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com//loudspeakerreviews/239/">Acoustic Energy Aegis One loudspeaker</A>. As JA puts it, "Acoustic Energy has introduced the Aegis One; its price is one-tenth that of the AE1 in its current, Signature guise. Does the Aegis One live up to what its heritage promises? I asked the company's US distributor, Audiophile Systems, to send me a pair so I could find out."

Despite the almost daily news reports that some music company has found a way to make people pay for music over the Internet, the fact is that very few people have done so. Most people who are getting their music on the Net are getting it free and like it that way---regardless of the quality. A survey released June 9 and funded by the Pew Charitable Trusts---a long-term supporter of National Public Radio---appears to validate this common observation.

This probably won't seem like rocket science to most audiophiles, but it should be taken to heart by everyone in the highly competitive world of consumer electronics. A new study reveals that for consumers, customer support is nearly as important as the product itself. According to the results of the "Customer Support Issues" study, released last week by <A HREF="http://eBrain.org">eBrain Market Research</A> in cooperation with the <A HREF="http://www.ce.org">Consumer Electronics Association</A>, rebate offers, warranties and availability of support resources are the key customer support issues for consumers.

Remember FM radio's effect on college campuses years ago? Free music, usually without commercials (college stations are largely non-profit), and very flexible playlists made or broke new bands. Fast-forward to 2000. Students now spend most of their time downloading MP3 files for free over the Internet for playback on their computers. As before, new artists often benefit from this phenomena, but record companies are increasingly seeing the students as pirates rather than consumers.