LATEST ADDITIONS

The entertainment industry is going the last mile in its war against file sharing. On Friday, October 8, the Motion Picture Association of America (<A HREF="http://www.mpaa.org">MPAA</A&gt;), the Recording Industry Association of America (<A HREF="http://www.riaa.com">RIAA</A&gt;), and the National Music Publishers Association (<A HREF="http://www.nmpa.org">NMPA</A&gt;) appealed to the US Supreme Court to overturn a lower court's ruling earlier this year that peer-to-peer (P2P) file-trading networks can't be held liable for copyright infringement.

Tyll Hertsens is on a mission. He strives to transform the ugly duckling bleat of portable audio into music that sings to an audiophile's heart.

Anyone who has experimented with wireless local area networks for audio&mdash;feeding rear/side speakers in a multichannel system, for example&mdash;can attest that the technology is far from ready for prime time. Prone to noise, interference, and dropouts, wireless audio systems require a tremendous amount of refinement before they'll meet audiophile standards.

<I>Without passion man is a mere latent force and possibility, like the flint which awaits the shock of the iron before it can give forth its spark.&mdash;</I>Henri-Fr&#233;d&#233;ric Amiel

The internal battle between the head and the heart, between the analytical and romantic sides of our nature, is a difficult one. I'm an engineer, so it seems as if my cold, calculating side should have the upper hand. This is true in a lot of cases; most of my actions and decisions are based on straightforward, logical analyses. However, things like a house full of castaway dogs, or a garage full of quixotic British cars and Italian motorcycles, suggest that my heart holds sway reasonably&mdash;perhaps distressingly&mdash;often.

John Atkinson flapped his bushy eyebrows at me and smiled slyly. "Hey, J-10, why don't <I>you</I> do the Sony SCD-C333ES SACD carousel player for April?" Usually, when JA gets that look on his face, I seek shelter. The phone bripped suddenly in my office, but I knew it was too late. "Oooo-<I>kay</I>..." I smiled back, thinking of <I>Stereophile</I>'s recent covers and the hubbub, bub, thick as it comes, that they'd produced. (See "Letters" in the February and March issues.)

Satellite radio goes high-end: Beginning early next year, <A HREF="http://www.krellonline.com/">Krell Industries</A> will enter the booming market for satellite radio receivers with an XM Radio tuner. The $4000 unit will reportedly also receive traditional AM and FM broadcasts; an optional module will let it stream Internet audio via 802.11g wireless connection to a broadband modem, according to the September 27 edition of <I>This Week in Consumer Electronics</I> (<A HREF="http://www.twice.com">TWICE</A&gt;). The tuner will join Krell's line of custom installation products. In a similar but less expensive vein will be new Sirius tuners from <A HREF="http://www.russound.com/">Russound</A&gt;. At $699 and $999, the two new models will also include AM/FM tuners.