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The first reference I saw to the Count of Saint Germain was in <I>Foucault's Pendulum</I>, Umberto Eco's dense novel about a man whose paranoid delusions become so overpoweringly real that, by the end of the book, the reader is left wondering whether the protagonist's enemies actually exist. That their number should include Saint Germain was a nice touch: Part cabalist, part confidence man, the real-life Count was thought by some to be immortal (in <I>Pendulum</I> he's pushing 300), and while Casanova wrote vividly of meeting Saint Germain at a dinner party in 1757, so did the English writer and pederast C.W. Leadbetter&mdash;in 1926. Like Aleister Crowley, the Count of Saint Germain can be seen peering over the shoulders of countless parlor (but not <I>parleur</I>, or even <I>haut-parleur</I>) occultists: He keeps popping up all over the place.

Dear Readers,<br>
I admit it. When Jerry commented to <a href="http://blog.stereophile.com/stephenmejias/041408really/">last week's entry</a>, saying that vinyl wears out with every single trip around the platter, it kind of shook me up. My heart raced and blood rushed to my head. I began to sweat. What had I done? What was I getting into? How would I afford this? Had I stepped into AlexO's bottomless pit?

Microsoft made several announcements this week: one promises Live Mesh, a service that would "connect and bring devices together . . . to work in concert"; the other admits that Microsoft promises are not to be trusted.

I always look forward to <I>Stereophile</I>'s Home Entertainment Shows, where I scout out interesting new models of affordable loudspeakers. At <A HREF="http://blog.stereophile.com/he2007">HE2007 in New York City</A>, I was struck by the Silverline Audio room&mdash;not only by the sound I heard there, but by the way Showgoers reacted to that sound.

Our industry has again honored its own. The Consumer Electronics Association, sponsors of the annual International Consumer Electronics Show (CES), has announced 12 new inductees to the Consumer Electronics Hall of Fame. Awards will be presented October 21 at a special Hall of Fame Dinner, scheduled for the Four Seasons in Las Vegas as part of the CEA's annual fall Industry Forum.

A couple of nights ago, I got this big idea that I'd go shopping for some picture disc vinyl to go along with the component we'll be featuring on our July cover. (Hint: It's not a speaker.) You know, I was thinking it'd be no problem to find Jimi Hendrix all lit up in a purple haze or, better yet, some new indie band dressed in skinny jeans and moccasins being chased by a puma, or something. But I discovered that new picture disc vinyl isn't all that easy to come by. Surprisingly, I found that today's picture discs come from three main sources:

To cheer myself up after the picture disc disappointment, I went ahead and bought <i>Attack & Release</i> by <a href="http://www.theblackkeys.com/">The Black Keys</a> and <i>Trouble In Dreams</i> by <a href="http://www.myspace.com/destroyer">Destroyer</a&gt;. Of course, I couldn't buy only two albums. Two is an even number, you see. So, I also picked up <a href="http://www.lightintheattic.net/">Light in the Attic</a>'s beautiful <i>Betty Davis</i> reissue.