LATEST ADDITIONS

Computers and vacuum tubes go together like Trent Lott and flyaway hair, right? The last time filaments glowed in computers was during the 1960s, when a computer was a building. I remember laughing at the ponytailed computer-science dweebs back then, who spent their college days playing nursemaid to a football field's worth of electronics capable of little more than adding two plus two. Chained to a computer half the day, as most of us now are, guess who had the last laugh?

The December issue sees <I>Stereophile</I> publish its 2002 "Products of theYear" (<A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/showarchives.cgi?724">added to the website</A> this week). The reviewers and editor have made their choices, so what are yours?

As tighter restrictions on the use of both audio and video digital content <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/news/11393/">loom in the legislature</A>, the <A HREF="http://www.hrrc.org">Home Recording Rights Coalition</A> (HRRC) and the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) have teamed up to counter the ever-increasing demands from copyright holders. The HRRC, founded in 1981, is a leading advocacy group for consumers' rights to use home electronics products for private, non-commercial purposes.

<A HREF="http://www.gateway.com">Gateway Computer</A> appears intent on expanding into the home entertainment arena.

You thought it was crowded last year? The Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) announced last week that, as of the beginning of December, it looks like the <A HREF="http://www.CESweb.org">2003 International Consumer Electronics Show</A> (CES) will feature a record-breaking amount of exhibit space, surpassing 1.2 million square feet.

For more than a decade now, Stereophile has recognized components that have proved capable of giving musical pleasure beyond the formal review period by naming its "Products of the Year."

It's no longer news that uncontrolled spurious vibration is one of the greatest threats to high-quality sound and video reproduction. Source components are, by themselves, a nightmare to isolate from the omnipresent vibrations in the environment. The intrusion of uncontrolled spuriae into the playback of LPs, CDs, SACDs, and DVDs has a deleterious and occasionally disastrous effect on the ability of the stylus or laser to precisely do its almost-molecular-scale job. Electronics are nearly as susceptible to such vibration-induced headaches as microphonics.