LATEST ADDITIONS

Sometimes it's just a flimsy sheet of paper; other times it can be a mini book about audio. Which manufacturer provides its customers with the best owner's manual?

<A HREF="http://www.arkivmusic.com">ArkivMusic</A&gt;, one of the Web's leading sources for classical music recordings, has struck a deal that enables them to release on their own reissue label, ArkivCD, out-of-print titles from the extensive catalogues of EMI Classics, Virgin Classics, and Angel Records. The reissues are available "on demand," copied from actual out-of-print CD releases (not master tapes) without compression or enhancement, and are often accompanied by copies of the original liner notes.

On May 30, Apple officially launched iTunes Plus, billed as "DRM-free music tracks featuring high-quality 256kbps AAC encoding for audio quality virtually indistinguishable from the original recordings." The initial material available from the iTunes Plus section of the iTunes Media Store is, for the moment, limited to EMI artists, although other labels have announced pending deals with Apple. The "improved" songs sell for $1.29 rather than the standard 99&#162;.

The <A HREF="http://blog.stereophile.com/he2007/">Home Entertainment Show 2007</A> held May 11&mdash;13, 2007, at the Grand Hyatt New York Hotel in New York City, will be remembered by exhibitors, consumers, and visiting media as a well-attended showcase of some of the finest home-entertainment products available.

I suppose, if he wanted to, Ariel could stop for a bit and take a look into last year, to read of how Kristina Roman saw things &#151; <a href="http://blog.stereophile.com/stephenmejias/062206krlucky/">from her lucky charms perspective</a>. It wouldn't be absolutely necessary, but it might prove interesting. I, as you know, enjoy the casual look back.

The rumors have been flying, and his arrival is imminent—a couple weeks after you read this—so it's time our readers know: John Atkinson, for the last four years Editor of Britain's prestigious Hi-Fi News & Record Review (left), is joining the staff of Stereophile as Managing Editor and International Editor.

Huckleberry wants to become spokescat for a high-end car manufacturer. Here he's posing for the hood medallion.