LATEST ADDITIONS

If Senator "Fritz" Hollings has his way, coming generations of electronic products will monitor their users' behavior and report possible copyright violations to some governmental regulatory agency. That's one of the more ominous provisions in Hollings' Consumer Broadband and Digital Television Promotion Act (CBDTPA), introduced for consideration by the US Senate the third week of March. The bill goes far beyond the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, passed in 1998.

My life is characterized by periods of relative calm interrupted by huge transitions. This last year has been a doozie, with changes in just about every aspect of my life: new cars, motorcycles, and guitars, new jobs and relationships, and, finally, the contemplation of a cross-country move. With a little bit of luck, all of this upheaval will end in a long period of relative calm.

When I read John Atkinson's reviews of the Digital Audio Labs CardDeluxe (Vol.23 No.9) and RME Digi96/8 Pro (Vol.23 No.11 and Vol.24 No.1), I realized that soundcard technology had matured far faster than I had been aware. For about the price of a mainstream CD player, anyone with a reasonably powerful computer could add multitrack digital recording technology to his bag of tricks.

The affordable universal disc player may yet become a reality&mdash;if <A HREF="http://www.philips.com">Royal Philips Electronics</A> has anything to do with it.

Michael Fremer gets a chorus of <I>oohs</I> and <I>ahhs</I> as he sets up the <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com//amplificationreviews/535/">Hovland Sapphire power amplifier</A> in his listening lair. While the Hovland is certainly a sweet-looking amp, MF rightly points out that "looks alone don't sell hi-fi equipment in the specialty audio market&mdash;especially when you're asking $7800 for a 40Wpc two-channel amplifier."

As I explain in the current issue's "As We See It" column, I decide on the ratings of the equipment featured in <I>Stereophile</I>'s "Recommended Components" listing after consultation with the reviewers, taking into account the original review comments and, sometimes, my own experience.

Copy-protection hysteria in the entertainment industry is driving possible changes in copyright laws that could make what is legal today illegal tomorrow. Legislation such as Senator "Fritz" Hollings' to-be-introduced Security Systems Standards and Certification Act could erode long-established "fair use" provisions that allow consumers to make compilation CDs and video recordings of favorite TV shows.