It was the road signs alongside I-44 that first caught my attention, each with its twin supports neatly snapped halfway up. Then I saw the outlet center east of Oklahoma City, smashed flat as if struck by the mother of all baseball bats swung by a careless god.

It was the road signs alongside I-44 that first caught my attention, each with its twin supports neatly snapped halfway up. Then I saw the outlet center east of Oklahoma City, smashed flat as if struck by the mother of all baseball bats swung by a careless god.

So where and on exactly what should you plunk your precious audiophile components when you get them home? And why even bother?

So where and on exactly what should you plunk your precious audiophile components when you get them home? And why even bother?

<B>MOZART: <I>Cos&#236; fan tutte</I></B><BR> V&#233;ronique Gens, Fiordiligi; Bernarda Fink, Dorabella; Werner G&#252;ra, Ferrando; Marcel Boone, Guglielmo; Pietro Spagnoli; Graciela Oddone, Despina; K&#246;lner Kammerchor, Concerto K&#246;ln, Ren&#233; Jacobs<BR> Harmonia Mundi 951663.65 (3 CDs). 1999. Barbara Valentin, artistic dir.; Mark Hohn, eng. DDD. TT: 3:21:09<BR> Performance <B>*****</B><BR> Sonics *****</B>

According to a report released last week by <A HREF="http://www.cahnersinstat.com">Cahners In-Stat Group</A>, a high-tech market research firm, the market for personal digital music players using audio compression technologies will experience a tremendous increase in growth through the next several years. Nearly $800 million in player sales are expected in 2003, spurred largely by widespread Internet access. The report also states that products in this segment will initially focus on downloading technologies like MP3, and over the next 12 months consumers should expect to see more features integrated into the players such as FM tuners, increased storage capacity, and security systems like Secure Digital Music Initiative (<A HREF="http://sdmi.org/">SDMI</A&gt;).

The age of digital music downloads has begun in earnest. On July 20, <A HREF="http://www.emigroup.com/">EMI Recorded Music</A> announced that it has signed a deal with <A HREF="http://www.digitalon-demand.com/">Digital On-Demand</A> and its subsidiary, RedDotNet Inc., to make the EMI catalog available for downloading to kiosks in music stores. The kiosks will be equipped with CD "burners" where customers can copy EMI recordings not in stock in the stores. They will also be able to print out the original cover art and liner notes. Discs can be copied at high speed in 5 to 15 minutes using RedDotNet's technology, the announcement noted.

Yet another major music company has joined the digital downloading stampede, in the wake of the Secure Digital Music Initiative's (<A HREF="http://www.sdmi.org/">SDMI</A&gt;) recent progress toward formulating copyright standards. On July 19, <A HREF="http://www.unimusic.com/">Universal Music Group</A> announced its intention to make its titles available for downloading to the coming generation of portable audio players. New devices from Diamond Multimedia, Toshiba, and Panasonic&mdash;all expected to hit the market by the winter holiday season&mdash;will play encrypted tunes from Universal and other big labels.

While decidedly "niche products," as Martin Colloms describes them, single-ended (SE) tube amplifiers have still found a happy home in many audiophile systems. But a trap awaits those who wish to evaluate the differences between an SE and a solid-state or push-pull tube amplifier, or between two SE amps. In "<A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com//features/127/">The Unseen Variable</A>," Colloms digs to the bottom of this complicated matter.