News

Today, Stereophile announces its first major Editorial changes in decades, with an expansion of the Editorial team and a change in leadership.

Since 1986, through many generations of corporate ownership, John Atkinson (right, above) has been the Editor and bedrock of the magazine. After nearly 33¹/₃ years, JA has decided to relinquish daily responsibility for producing the magazine and as of April 1 will take on a new (and newly established) position: Technical Editor. Stepping into his shoes as Editor will be long-time Stereophile contributor Jim Austin (left above).

This week marks Stereophile's 10^th year online.

Stereovoxhttp://www.stereovox.com">Stereovox; has introduced a more affordable Studio series of cables to complement its extravagant Reference products. (John Marks raved about them herehttp://www.stereophile.com/thefifthelement/742/index2.html">here;.) The new Studio HDSE (high-definition single-ended) interconnects are thin and flexible, but each cable is constructed from a single high-purity 0.008" thick copper tube, clad in a silver-plated copper woven shield, with pure tape-wrapped full-density PTFE Teflon dielectric and an FEP jacket. The Studio cables employ a new chrome-plated Xhadow™ Reference precision-machined RCA connector.

Is stadium rock passé? The Rolling Stones, the world's greatest practitioners of large-venue concerts, have announced a tour of smaller arenas beginning January 25. The "No Security" tour---in support of the recently released Virgin Records album of the same name---will take the band through 25 North American cities.

Electronic equipment worth millions of dollars is damaged every year by lightning strikes and power outages caused by summer storms. These seasonal threats have been amplified by the possibility of rotating blackouts, as well as resulting recent policy changes by major utility companies.

Will the official online music gates finally stream open and flood us with non-pirated tunes? Perhaps. One important step in the process has finally been taken. The National">http://www.nmpa.org">National Music Publishers' Association (NMPA), the Harry Fox Agency (HFA), and the Recording">http://www.riaa.com">Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) announced last week that they have come to a "breakthrough" agreement on the licensing of musical works for new subscription services on the Internet.

Last week's online">http://www.stereophile.com/vote.shtml">online poll indicates that many Stereophile readers have an ongoing affinity for the retro design style of older audio gear. Several respondents say they find the warm glow of tubes and backlit displays seductively attractive in a darkened room, while others pine for the days of analog dials and softly lit meters with gently bouncing needles.