I have been using a Dell 600m laptop running Windows XP and iTunes with error correction engaged to rip cds via a Plextor PX-712 UF external USB disc drive. Everything was working flawlessly until I upgraded from iTunes v.4.9 to v.5. Thereafter, iTunes would recognize a cd but would not play it or import it.

Which would you choose and why?

Thanks for your input/help.

Now that title may sound to some of you like a stretch, but you can see the news everywhere - now that the much-demonized music industry is already demanding an even bigger piece of the Apple pie** (The iTunes Music Store royalties pie, that is) and have been basically shooting themselves in the foot since they began taking 12-year olds as hostages for megabuck suings for filling their hard drives with illegal copies of Britney Spears pop pap.

I understand that a good soundcard and or DAC is important in the creation of a CD from LP etc. But what about the software? I can see that various software packages like GoldWave or Sound Forge have different GUIs and kinds of post processing (noise pop removel etc.) but does one software product produce a better WAV file then any other? If you select to not do any post processing, I cant see that it makes any difference?

I am considering rebuilding my Rotel RA1312 that I purchased new in 1978. It's attributes are that cosmetically it looks new out of the box and it still works. It is a Class A amp with 80W/ ch, Push-Pull configuration and has been hand assembled in Japan with point to point wiring that wraps every wire around it's solder point.There is a gentleman here in town that can replace all internal components(laser trimmed resisters,polypro caps,larger power supply caps,etc, and clean all switches.

A new reader is looking to put together a system for his office. His budget: $500.

He writes:

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Are there any small systems, shelf systems, minisystems, etc. that you recommend?

I had asked two friends who seem to know, and one had suggested the Cambridge soundworks 740 (over the Bose Wave Music System) and the other the Denon D-M33s. I realize that they are different animals, but that should tell you something about the size and price range (300-500) that I am looking at.

Has anyone by chance auditioned this combo? What are your thoughts on the 300.2? Any thoughts on the CD3 MKII are also welcome.