My favorite LP-hunting story takes place in a Lower Manhattan store sometime in the 1980s. For several years I had been looking for The Compleat Dancing Master, a compilation of English Morris dance tunes charmingly mingled with spoken-word material. The only copy I'd ever seen was an unsealed one and I wanted a virgin sealed copy. So there I was in this record store, when a guy walked in and asked the manager if the very album I was seeking was in stock. The manager said yes and I went into a collector's frenzy. I had one advantage over the competing shopper--I knew what the jacket looked like, with its distinctive graphics against a hunter-green background. I began scanning the tops of the rows of LPs, looking for a slim stripe of hunter green. It took me less than a minute to find my prize, a sealed copy with a price sticker that read $2.49 (a lot less than online prices today). As I took it to the cashier, I made no attempt to lock eyes with my vanquished rival. Actually, I was half triumphant for my accomplishment and half embarrassed for my greed, if the truth be known. But I still remember that day whenever I see that hunter-green spine on my shelves. Perhaps we live in a better world now, a world where shoppers needn't compete for collectibles because downloads can reach vast numbers of people if the artist is lucky. But this item remains hard to find in any form--and downloads are never this much fun.
More and more young people have been realizing the advantages of vinyl lately and we can only hope the release of Activision's DJ Hero video game will be another step in the right direction. The picture above is apparently going to be the...
Unlike many high-end manufacturers that concentrate on one type of product, MBL casts a wider net. For three decades, this German company has developed super-sophisticated—and super-expensive—speakers, power amps, preamps, integrated amps, optical-disc players, and D/A converters. At the top of its speaker heap is the 101 X-treme, a stunning sonic and visual masterpiece.
The U.S. is little more than a month away from the final deadline date for the transition from analog to digital television broadcasting, coming on June 12, 2009. So how are we doing? According to a new poll from the National Association of Broadcasters, we're doing OK, with 82 percent of broadcast-dependent TV households fully prepared for the DTV transition. This is a huge improvement over January.
Massive plasma screens aren't just for CES anymore. This afternoon, Bang & Olufsen unveiled the 103-inch BV103 at the Audi Forum in New York City. This huge beastie of an HDTV comes packed with all of the features B&O could think of,...
The video streaming site Hulu got a new high-profile partner last week with the announcement that Disney movies and TV shows would be available. This is a leg up for Hulu, in the thick of an ongoing race with YouTube to sign up new content partners.
D is an Excellent Grade I'm thinking about purchasing Rotel's RSP-1570 pre/pro, and I notice that all the company's latest amplifiers (and the flagship RSX-1560 receiver) utilize Class D technology. Is this a move we're likely to see from other manufacturers given how well the energy-efficiency story plays in our increasingly green world? Does the technology sacrifice any performance?
Atlantic Technology has unveiled three new series of home theater speakers, along with a set of new, powered subwoofers. The inspirationally-named System 1400, System 2400, and System 4400 speakers replace the System 1200, System 2200, and...
General Electric has developed an optical disc format using microholographic technology that stores 500 gigabytes, or about 100 times the capacity of a DVD, and 10 times the capacity of a Blu-ray dual-layer disc.
