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The MP3 Talk

On the corner of 38th and Madison, just outside the Stereophile offices, there's a street advertisement which reads:

Start Talking Before They Start Drinking!

It cracks me up every time. The ad depicts a kid, you see&#151he must be about five years old&#151looking very sad, looking like he's had one hell of a rough day, looking, in fact, like he needs a drink. If you don't talk to that kid quick, he'll be at the gin like it's Kool-Aid. But I shouldn't laugh. It's very serious.

And it raises a good point: It's best to start talking to the kids…

"You Don't Understand Our Audience"

Technology Review, which is one of the magazines I not only eagerly await, but read from cover to cover, published a 14 page screed against network news by John Hockenberry in the January/February issue.

Hockenberry, now at MIT's Media Lab, worked for NBC News for 12 years "working up" to a position on Dateline. He observes that Edward R. Murrow's "This Is London" broadcasts were revolutionary in the way they delivered immediate reporting to an America that had always felt justifiably—indeed, ideologically—distant from the rest of the world. "

"Communication technologies…

Beyond.FM Tackles DRM with Chuck D and DMC

My inbox is blowing up. Every other second, it's ding, ding, ding. New mail, new mail, new mail. Press conferences, product announcements, and party invitations from hundreds of companies who will be exhibiting during the four far too short days that make up the 2008 Consumer Electronics Show.

A guy needs a plan of attack. Have I starting mapping out mine? Heck no. Where to begin? The rush of new mail all starts to look the same. Of course, there's always some $140,000/pair loudspeaker or $300,000 amplifier that makes me close my eyes and shake my head&#151and, yes, I'…

Globes of Desire

I was saddened today to read about the December 22 passing of Ruth Wallis, a singer from the 40's through 60's who specialized in creative naughtiness. Born in Brooklyn (where else?), she sang with Benny Goodman and owned her own record label, but it was her risque tunes like, "The Dinghy Song" ("He had the cutest little dinghy in the Navy") that brought her the most fame and which became the basis for an unlikely 2003 Broadway hit, Boobs! The Musical: The World According to Ruth Wallis. Here are a few classic couplets from the Wallis-penned title tune: "You've gotta be filled Two fried…

<I>The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao</I>

On Christmas day, my friend, the Nuyorican goddess Liz Ramirez-Weaver saw me looking at Junot Diaz's The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao. "It's good," she said. "You should borrow it."

So I jammed it in my ditty bag along with copies of Hanslick's On the Musically Beautiful and Alperson's introduction to the philosophy of music, What is Music? that her husband Eric had pressed on me. (Serious guy, Eric—I had to fight off his offer of Nietzche's thoughts on music: "Although I have to admit, it reads better in German." BMAFG!)

Of course, TBWLOOW languished in my bag until I…

Helpful Bagheera

Our least trusting cat has inexplicably determined that her favorite perch in the house is on the heavily trafficked threshold between the kitchen and living room. She's training us to step lightly—and as far to the other side as possible.

Cats: training humans for over 100,000 years.

High Ground

Sometimes, Huckleberry simply has to take the high ground and brood. Well, it looks like brooding, but he's not deep, that cat. He's probably thinking How did I get here? How do I get down? What was that middle thing again?

Awards Are Here

The show has just opened its doors and Stereophile's Stephen Mejias holds the new Product of the Year awards to be handed out all day long.

High end audio is spread out around Las Vegas again this year, with exhibitors at the Venetian, Alexis Park, St. Tropez, and hotels scattered in between.

Synergistic Tubes

We ran into SinglePower Inc.'s Mikhail Rotenberg as he was sprinting down the hall to the Synergistic Research room. "Check these out," he said. "These are a 1932 Tung Argon 4327 and a 1943 722A (323), labeled Centennial, but manufactured by Western Electric."

Rotenberg has a warehouse full of NOS treasures like this he bought from a MilSpec supplier near West Point. A few minutes later, we saw them in action, but we could have never guessed what they were being used in.

This is the Synergistic Research/SinglePower Enigma power supply ($6000) for Synergistic's active…

Hot Rod iPod

The new Wadia iTransport detailed above also comes in your choice of hot rod finishes. Well not officially, but they couldn't resist making one for the show.