Starbucks is taking its signature compilation CDs to the next level—the personal one.

<A HREF="http://www.towerrecords.com">Tower Records</A> should be back in fighting form on Monday, March 15 when a Delaware bankruptcy court rules on the company's reorganization plans.

From the March 2004 issue, John Atkinson finally gets to listen to the <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/loudspeakerreviews/304sonus">Sonus Faber Cremona loudspeaker</A> and explains, "it took rather longer than I had expected to set the Cremonas up in my listening room. But, like everything worth experiencing, the wait was worth it."

Audiophiles interested in experimenting with upconverting the digital data on their CDs to higher resolutions will find a recent announcement from the Netherlands of interest. Dutch company <A HREF="http://www.eximius.nl">Eximius</A&gt; revealed last week a new product tagged "DVD+Audio Creator" for converting CDs to either upsampled PCM or compressed MP2 files.

<B>IRON AND WINE: <I>Our Endless Numbered Days</I></B><BR>
Sub Pop 630 (CD). 2004. Sam Beam, Brian Deck, prods., engs. AAD? TT: 44:49<BR>
Performance <B>****</B><BR>
Sonics <B>****</B>

"There, that's where you should put the microphone, 5' from the end of my bow."

It's a beautiful drive, considering you're on a freeway. You take I-25 north out of Albuquerque, Sandia Peak to your right and the Jemez Caldera and Mount Taylor dimly visible in the distance to your left. As you broach La Bajada hill south of Santa Fe, the Sangre de Cristo range—the "Blood of Christ Mountains" described by Paul Simon in "Hearts & Bones"—appears before your windshield. You take the Old Pecos Trail exit to the City Different, but before you reach town you bear to the left, then take another left opposite St. Vincent Hospital. There, in a cul-de-sac, you peer up at the street sign: "Stereophile Way," it says (footnote 1). "Not just a street, but a philosophy," I kidded Larry Archibald when the city told him that he could name the road where the magazine's headquarters would one day be situated.

"The Sonus Faber Cremona is the finest cabinet-built speaker I have heard for under $10,000/pair," wrote the usually reticent Sam Tellig in the January 2003 <I>Stereophile</I>. "<I>Bravissimo...Molto, molto bene</I>" he added to his paean of praise for the Italian speaker manufacturer's founder and chief engineer, Franco Serblin.

"The Sonus Faber Cremona is the finest cabinet-built speaker I have heard for under $10,000/pair," wrote the usually reticent Sam Tellig in the January 2003 <I>Stereophile</I>. "<I>Bravissimo...Molto, molto bene</I>" he added to his paean of praise for the Italian speaker manufacturer's founder and chief engineer, Franco Serblin.