LATEST ADDITIONS

Some of us started with "On Top of Spaghetti" and ended up listening to Bart

John Lennon and the Plastic Ono Band's 1971 album <I>Imagine</I> has now been remixed and remastered at Abbey Road Studios in London, supervised by Yoko Ono, and will be reissued in a new version on vinyl, CD, and cassette by <A HREF="http://www.capitolrecords.com">Capitol Records</A> on March 28. The re-release precedes the April 11 release of a behind-the-scenes DVD documentary, <I>Gimme Some Truth&mdash;The Making of John Lennon's </I>Imagine<I> Album</I>, which attempts to examine the creative process that took place at Lennon's home recording studio during the legendary 1971 sessions.

In his essay "<A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com//asweseeit/208/">Let's Face the Music and Dance</A>," John Marks, founder of John Marks Records, asks: "Does high-end audio have a future?" Of course it does, he says. But will it be one worth the price? Marks writes, "for most of its potential consumers, high-end audio is now a matter of sharply diminishing economic returns. A large incremental expenditure guarantees only a relatively modest, even marginal improvement in sound quality." How to forge ahead anyway? Marks offers his advice to our "dysfunctional" audio family.

Should Internet sales be subject to taxation? California's US Senator Diane Feinstein doesn't think so. Neither do most of her constituents in Silicon Valley, who are riding an unprecedented wave of prosperity as the growth of Internet commerce continues. Many folks outside Silicon Valley, especially traditional retailers, see no reason why e-commerce should be exempt from sales taxes.

The radio industry's frenzy of mergers and acquisitions has slowed down but hasn't stopped. San Antonio-based <A HREF="http://www.clearchannel.com/">Clear Channel Communications Inc.</A>, one of the largest radio broadcasters in the US, has agreed to acquire <A HREF="http://www.amfm.com/">AMFM Inc.</A>, another major player. The merger will give Clear Channel more than 850 stations nationwide. The deal hinges on Clear Channel unloading 72 of its stations in 27 markets to comply with <A HREF="http://www.fcc.gov/">Federal Communications Commission</A> rules limiting the number of stations that can be owned by a single operator.

Does high-end audio have a future? High-end audio most definitely does have a future. So do the Latin mass, chess, leather-bound books, and wooden boats. But the future will not be like the past, and I think we must face the fact that high-end audio's future, both for hardware and software, will be as a minority enthusiasm. We should plan and act accordingly.

Almost two years ago we asked for your opinions about DVD-Audio's surround possiblities (see <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/showvote.cgi?41">previous vote results</A>). Have your opinions changed? What are your current thoughts about multichannel sound?