It was a late Friday afternoon in May and I wasn't having much luck getting into Sony's multichannel SACD demo room at the Home Entertainment 2001 Show. Surely, as a member of the audio press and a freelance writer for <I>Stereophile</I>, I should have no trouble. Not this time. After several polite "Nos," a Sony consultant managed to snare for me the last ticket of the day.

Do good things come in small packages? Audio technology over this past half century offers pretty good evidence that they do. Fifty years ago, the long-playing record amazed people with a half-hour of music per side, compared to the 78's few minutes. Thirty years ago, the cassette tape replaced bulky open reels, ushering in a new era of recording capability&mdash;and portability&mdash;for millions of people. Twenty years ago, the CD began to push the LP out of the way because it packed a little more music into a much smaller and more durable package. Personal radios have long been hugely popular, and portable audio players are consistently among the industry's best-selling products.

Napster may be down for the count, but audio file-sharing is more popular than ever, according to a study released October 10 by research firm <A HREF="http://www.jmm.com">Jupiter Media Metrix Inc</A>.

Although it <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/news/11129/">announced support</A> for SACD in early September, the world's third-largest record label, <A HREF="http://www.emigroup.com">EMI Music Distribution</A>, says it is also gearing up for a full slate of DVD-Audio titles. While the company has numerous new releases available, these will be the first to come from its back catalog.

It's a Mac attack! First up is Jonathan Scull's take on the <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com//amplificationreviews/428/">McIntosh MC1201 monoblock power amplifier</A>. Festooning his listening loft with a pair of the "Great American Icons," J-10 is ready to rumble with "the biggest power meters you ever saw this side-a Milwaukee."

Many audiophiles agree that dedicated AC circuits can make notable improvements in the performance of hi-fi equipment. If you are planning to run a dedicated AC line, <A HREF="http://www.jpslabs.com">JPS Labs</A> has a product for you.

Will the official online music gates finally stream open and flood us with non-pirated tunes? Perhaps. One important step in the process has finally been taken. The <A HREF="http://www.nmpa.org">National Music Publishers' Association</A> (NMPA), the Harry Fox Agency (HFA), and the <A HREF="http://www.riaa.com">Recording Industry Association of America</A> (RIAA) announced last week that they have come to a "breakthrough" agreement on the licensing of musical works for new subscription services on the Internet.

Napster may be down for the count, but its millions of former members are happily swapping audio files elsewhere, according to an October 10 report from technology research firm <A HREF="http://www.jmm.com">Jupiter Media Metrix Inc</A>.