In what must be considered a major victory for consumers, on May 6, 2005, the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled in favor of the American Library Association and others who filed suit against the Federal Communication Commission (FCC) to block implementation of the so-called "broadcast flag," a digital signature that would have severely limited the circumstances under which consumers could copy DTV programs. As a result, over-the-air DTV signals may be freely recorded and copied for personal, non-commercial purposes as outlined by the principles of fair use (as unclear as those principles may be).

When home theater enthusiasts talk about their audio systems, they usually concentrate on components such as the disc player, receiver (or preamp-processor and power amps), and speakers. But there's another component that deserves just as much attention: the cables that connect the other devices together. Without cables, those other components would be nothing more than expensive boat anchors.

Once again, I am very gratified at the thoughtful responses to last week's blog that were posted here and e-mailed to me. Clearly, <I>UAV</I> has many intelligent, articulate readers, and I thank you for sharing your insights, which will help me select the best products to review. Instead of posting inline replies to the comments left during the week (sadly, an activity I don't often have time for), I'll summarize my thoughts here, partly so I can devote some undivided attention to them and partly in the hopes that the discussion will continue...

First, I'd like to thank all of you who responded to my query of last week. I got more than 30 replies that expressed a wide range of opinions on what products <I>UAV</I> should review&mdash;not only specific products, but types of products, price ranges, and other criteria. Here's a summary and a follow-up question...