LATEST ADDITIONS

As Larry Greenhill reports in his review of the <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com//digitalsourcereviews/469/">Sony SCD-C555ES SACD changer</A>, "I didn't know what to expect from multichannel SACD. Would a multichannel music-only disc give me high-energy dramatics? Would there be any room for meditative, closed-eyed, total progressive muscular relaxation?" As Greenhill says, "The best was yet to come."

It seems that all of the forces in the music industry have lately been conspiring against the music lover and audiophile. The record labels and their hired gun, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), have so far blocked digital outputs on high-resolution audio players, insisted that watermarks be inserted into both high- and low-resolution audio data, and have even started to <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/news/11178/">restrict</A&gt; consumer's fair use of compact discs and digital downloads.

Over-the-air classical music broadcasting is becoming increasingly rare, but classical has got a huge listenership on the Internet, according to a survey by rating service <A HREF="http://www.arbitron.com">Arbitron, Inc.</A>, which early this month announced that three classical music stations were among the five most listened to on the Internet.

For the tenth consecutive year, <I>Stereophile</I> writers and editors ferret out those components that have proved capable of giving musical pleasure beyond the formal review period and have wrapped them all up as <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com//features/464/">The 2001 Products of the Year</A>. The envelope please.

Audiophiles tend to be a fussy lot. But there are always a few sure-fire items that will put a smile on their faces without breaking the bank. We've got dozens of great ideas, guaranteed to suit every taste, available online (links are below) from our secure Web pages.