LATEST ADDITIONS

On September 26, Showstoppers had its "digital holidays" event in Manhattan. If you aren't a member of the gadget press, you probably won't know about Showstoppers, but it's a press event that gathers all manner of gadgets, gizmos, and computer peripherals under one roof, adds in an open bar and free food, and invites anybody with a press credential to come mingle and ogle the new products. The events are well-run, well-attended, and almost never have much of interest for <I>Stereophile</I> readers.

On September 25, Amazon <A HREF="http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=176060&p=irol-newsArticle&I…; that its <A HREF="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/browse/-/163856011">Amazon MP3 download store</A> was open as a "public beta" test. Amazon claims it has "more than two million songs by more than 180,000 artists from over 20,000 major and independent labels," which makes it somewhat less diverse than Apple's iTunes Store, which claims six million songs. However, Amazon MP3 has a few advantages in its corner: its MP3s are higher-resolution, variable bit-rate 256kpbs with no digital rights management&mdash;and they are cheaper, 89&ndash;99&#162; per track, as opposed to iTunes' 99&#162; for its 128kbps AAC files (or $1.29 for iTunes+ files, which are DRM-free and 256kbps AAC files).

These are great times for analog, and I'm happy to have played a small part in the revival, but recently the demand for some products has outstripped supply; getting review samples has been next to impossible. I've requested an Audio Research PH7 phono preamplifier for literally years now, but ARC can't build them fast enough, so they don't need a review. The more they sell, the greater the buzz, and the greater the buzz, the more e-mails I get from readers asking for a review. It's not nice to not be needed.

Bagheera is a past mistress at the art of <I>cat fu</I>, the ability to comfortably inhabit spaces too small for her to fit into.

Huckleberry, on the other hand, practices his <I>cat fu</I> mind-tricks out in the open&mdash;where they aren't at all effective.

Making <I>Blonde on Blonde</I>.

Sometimes it is. "In theory, the planet has 24 time zones. Actually, there are about 39, and they are still hotly debated. Within the past month, President Hugo Chavez has talked of moving Venezuela’s clocks forward half an hour, and Indian scientists have urged their government to do the same."