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To disregard the hi-fi end of what we do is wrong," says Tom Petty of his decision to include a Blu-ray Disc with 62 live tracks mixed in 5.1 as part of the Deluxe Edition of his career-spanning boxed set with the Heartbreakers, The Live Anthology (Reprise). That edition, is impressive indeed. Besides the Blu-ray, it comprises five live CDs, two DVDs with two previously unreleased shows, one vinyl LP, a book, lithographs, and other goodies.

Just days before boarding a plane in January for the 2010 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, I made a point of doing something that many other folks the world over had been doing in droves: I watched Avatar at my local IMAX 3D theater. And I don’t think I’m alone in saying that it was the most involving 3D movie I’d ever seen. The distinct illusion of depth conveyed by the image projected on that massive IMAX screen was an entirely new sensation. In many ways, Avatar was the greatest movie experience I’d ever sat through.

How many times has this happened to you? Irrepressible engineers invent a terrific piece of new hardware, but you can't find any content to play on it. the sampler that came in the box is awesome, but after playing it a thousand times, it's getting a little old.

Most of the big recent news in audio has involved a seemingly endless stream of new surround sound formats. First came uncompressed multichannel Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio soundtracks on Blu-ray Disc. Then last year the listening experience reached new heights as Dolby ProLogic IIz and Audyssey DSX processing brought the vertical axis of our home theaters into play. Now it looks like the surround folks are finally taking a breather, which means we can swing the spotlight back over to stereo, where some big changes have been taking place.

Here's the thing about Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers' stunning new album, Mojo: While you've never quite heard the band play this way before on record, the songs sound like you've known them all your life.

It has long been axiomatic that Apple changed the world forever when it unveiled the iTunes online Music Store. (At least the computer-savvy, mainstream music-listening, iPod-toting part of it.) But where does that leave the rest of us-the freaks, geeks, and old-folks who still rely on to physical media, because it just doesn't feel right to drive an expensive audio system, replete with digital processing power greater than the Apollo moon lander's and speaker cables as wide as a fire hose, via a toy-like portable device?