LATEST ADDITIONS

One might assume that the mutually dependent businesses of electronics manufacturing and retailing would track each other in perfect unison. That's often true, but they can sometimes get wildly out of sync with each other. It's one of the great economic mysteries.

Start policing your employees' use of file sharing networks or we sue you. That was the threat from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) to Fortune 1000 companies last week as the organizations announced the publication and distribution of a guide "to assist US companies in preventing copyright abuse on their computers and networks."

Oh, I talk a good game when it comes to the whole music-lover-<I>vs</I>-audiophile thing. But I admit that when it comes to record players, I'm just another hardware junkie. I love turntables and tonearms for more than the musical enjoyment they give me. Turntables and tonearms are my favorite toys.

Consider the coelacanth. In 1938, a healthy specimen of this Paul Simon-sized fish was pulled from the Indian Ocean, not far from the mouth of South Africa's Chalumna River. But prior to that happy event (depending on your perspective, of course: the sight of the coelacanth's long, fleshy fins probably made for some very <I>un</I>happy creationists), the scientific community believed the animal in question was extinct, and had been for 65 million years.

Thirty years ago, the upstart audio company NAD revolutionized the manufacturing of consumer-electronics components by "internationalizing" the process. Instead of physically making products, NAD hired a project team in one location to design a product that was then built at a sub-contracted factory located elsewhere. The arrangement allowed NAD to go into business with relatively little capital outlay and low overhead. Other companies have since copied this ingenious business model, and, as transportation and communication have improved, doing so has become easier and more efficient. It has brought prices down and quality up&mdash;mostly in the low and middle segments of the high-end audio and video markets.

It's not unusual to see a product get a glowing review in <I>Stereophile</I>, but then measure poorly on the test bench. Does this bother you?

The <A HREF="http://www.ce.org">Consumer Electronics Association</A> (CEA) has responded to an ongoing copyright infringement <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/news/11562/">suit</A&gt; being pursued in a US District Court by the music industry against Verizon Communications, Inc.