Be careful, the old saw has it, what you wish for. For a long time now, many of us boomers have wished that the mainstream record companies would rediscover the glories of the vinyl LP. Now, a few of them are doing just that. Sony has released new 33-1/3 rpm slabs of vinyl from Columbia’s classic jazz catalogue—Charles Mingus’ <I>Ah Um</I> and a bonus LP as part of the deluxe box commemorating the 50th anniversary of Miles Davis’ <I>Kind of Blue</I>. Blue Note has gone further still, reissuing a dozen of its old titles in vinyl, packing both a CD <I>and</I> an LP inside the 12” record jackets, presumably so you can hear a comparison.

In a world of me-too products, NuForce distinguishes itself from all those other components whose names begin with i by actually using a capital <I>I</I>. Actually, that statement is unkind, even unfair&#151;unlike the myriads of products designed to capitalize on the Apple iPod's current sexiness, the NuForce Icon isn't designed to be portable (although NuForce does offer an Icon Mobile). What the Icon unquestionably <I>is</I> is a fine little piece of audio engineering, which most of those other i components are not.

In a world of me-too products, NuForce distinguishes itself from all those other components whose names begin with i by actually using a capital <I>I</I>. Actually, that statement is unkind, even unfair&#151;unlike the myriads of products designed to capitalize on the Apple iPod's current sexiness, the NuForce Icon isn't designed to be portable (although NuForce does offer an Icon Mobile). What the Icon unquestionably <I>is</I> is a fine little piece of audio engineering, which most of those other i components are not.