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'Bout time. The disc is dead. Long live the hard drive. Now how about some listening tests (double-blind, of course) comparing codecs and how close they come to Red Book?

music is music....and if you can't enjoy the glory of music in whatever format...you're not a music lover but a pure gearhead/audiophile. Which isn't all bad is it?

We cannot ignore technology and even market changes. As audiophiles, we must introduce as many people as possible to the joys of great, and proper, musical reproduction. Good idea, great article.

For those of us who are ignorant about the varying quality of downloaded music, I think these types of reviews could be helpful.

Are you turning yourselves into consumer review for anything electronic or are you a magazine for Hi-End (Should be 2 channel only)audio readers? I could care less if you ever review a computer based or HT product again to include multi-channel audio. If you spend so much time reviewing IPOD's and multi-channel HT rigs that support SACD/DVD-A then you are not serving the pure music listener anymore. As with "Home Theatre Review" I'm sure once one or both of the new multi channel formats takes off someone will start a "Multi Channel Review" magazine. I have an HT but my rule of thumb is "whatching in this room and listening in the other room".

I wonder how the wider community of manufacturers, distributors, and dealers felt about that piece.

Good move ! Let's not cut ourselves from the outside world.

This is an audio technology product that may be a precursor of what is to come in high end audio.

If Stereophile does not review products like the iPod, where would I turn to find its out the pros and cons from an audiophile perspective? No other magazine that reviewed the iPod paid as much attention to the sound quality as Stereophile.

Of course it's a good move. Why would you refuse to review a revolutionary, nearly ubiquitous product, purely on grounds of prejudice? You have the option of giving it a bad review if you don't like it—but refusing to review it is simply childish.

I have no interest in the iPod or anything like it, but it's not problem if an occasional review of the "high-end" of "low-fi" is included in Stereophile. The "ugly" part will be the predictable "subscription cancellation" letters to the editor.

Do you really think MP3's are high fiedelity?

A good thing. Adapt and improve, or perish. Always resist the temptation to put your head in the sand.

It's cool. Stick with it even though your traditional readership may scream. Devices like this one are where things are going and you need to be evaluating them from an audiophile perspective. Many of my more technologically advanced friends are already using their PC as a massive jukebox capable of storing thousands of songs and streaming them to various playback devices throughout their homes. I'd like to see magazines like Stereophile spend more time on this sort of thing than reviewing turntables, tomearms, and cartridges (sorry, I can't resist poking fun at the vinyl people).

It would seem to be a move away from Stereophile's core mission. Clearly, such products will not offer sound quality levels deserving of the label "audiophile." Still, I might be interested in such products, so I would be interested in reading *brief* reviews or descriptions so as to stay current with the technology.

I'm an audiophile but the compactness and versatility of the unit is remarkable. It's time the audiophile community take their colletive heads out-of-the sand and use their talents and skills to make this a better medium. Baby steps have been taken with Sterophile's review.

I don't want to see a lot of these products reviewed. I do not, however, have a problem with Stereophile reviewing products that stand out from the pack in some way, especially if they are given the audiophile treatment. As long as these products aren't held to lesser standards, the reviews are just as legit as normal audiophile fair.

My guess is that downloads will beat out SACD and DVD-A in sales, so let's make them sound good before running the signal through our reference equipment!

Inprovements in audio reproduction come from all different directions. It's good to be exposed to things we might have never sought out on our own.

For selfishb reasons only,I give it a "good", rating as I'm thinking about purchasing one. My gut is telling me otherwise, but you don't have a category for "I'm not sure, but I think that it's not good".

Gee, I wonder if he'll like it? Is this why I read Stereophile? Maybe we need Stereophile to start a new mag. Advertizerphile.

If it's audio gear, it's fair game for a review in an audio magazine. So what if some readers will never consider purchasing an iPod? Stereophile reviews lots of equipment most readers will never purchase.

I found the review very illuminating (I read it online before receiving my paper copy). I think he offers a very fair assessment of its capabilities including its use as a high-rez storage device. I also pleased to see JA take the time to measure its performance and comment how it stacks up to other components.

Good; Because I bought one and am interested in it's quality. But don't waste time on other mp3 players.

As a member of the under 30 Stereophile club (at least for another year), I think it is great. We shouldn't turn our back on things such as the Ipod simply because quality audio wasn't the hallmark of the design. It represents a new frontier that is being explorered in engineering, and I for one am not opposed to seeing where it leads. I feel that there is room for a range of possibilities in the reproduction of music that ranges from vinyl to hard-disk, and they are not mutually exclusive.

The I-pod is an audio product and since Stereophile is in the audio reviewing business, it should review it. I want to hear from people who listen to high quality systems what they think of it. The I-pod is clearly a success, and I want to hear what fellow audiophiles think about it's sound quality!

Audiophiles enjoy music whether they are listening to music at home or on the run. Also, many of us audiophiles are gadject geeks and we like hearing about new and different products and the Apple's 3rd generation Ipod is a new audio toy. Although, many audiophiles may never reduce themselves to purchase an audio device that plays compressed audio files there are many of us that do. Reguardless of where one may stand on the issue of compressed audio files the article reguarding the new Ipod was well written and very informative. We, the audiophile community, need to stay informed on the latest technologies and toys.

Even though the apple ipod is really nice looking, so is B&O. Even if it sounds better then MP3 or as good as normal CD, how is that really moving forward???

I think it is fine as long as you would review other great products such as the now discontinued 5000/5001 Denon CD changer.

You can't hold back change. As much as I loved, quadraphonic sound, betamax, etc. the technical world moved on. Where is audio magazine? Here, here! Review the Ipod and move oninto the feature.